MPs earn more than KN previously stated

Jan 16, 2015 News

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– We apologize for the understatement

By: Kiana Wilburg
Members of the Alliance For Change (AFC) seemed offended when Kaieteur News in an article published yesterday suggested that Members of Parliament (MPs) in this period of prorogation were collecting millions of dollars for essentially doing nothing.
The AFC MPs rushed to accuse the newspaper of inaccurate reporting and of lacking thoroughness when conducting investigations.
Kaieteur News, in the article, stated that as of the start of this New Year, MPs such as those in the political opposition were taking home gross earnings of $166,000 and their telephone and travel bills paid for. AFC was quick to deem this, among other revelations in that news item, as being far from the truth.
The pay slips willingly provided by AFC member Valerie Garrido-Lowe showed that her gross earnings are $180, 040 and after taxes are deducted, the take home is $140, 992, while Cathy Hughes’ gross salary is $282,000. After deductions her take home is $212,000.
This newspaper apologizes for the understatement.

The issue came up for discussion yesterday at the AFC’s first press conference for the year, held at the Georgetown Club.
Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo, was asked to address the perception in some quarters that it is considered somewhat unethical for Parliamentarians to be collecting taxpayers’ monies when they are not doing anything, because the Parliament is prorogued. Observers had also said that it is a moral infraction to do such and that the Members of Parliament should not accept their payments.
But Nagamootoo said, “If you apply it to someone who was just knocked down by a careless driver and lost his leg, I suppose the victim should say ‘because I am disabled I should hold the driver culpable for damages’. We were disabled by a reckless driver called Donald Ramotar. It is not our fault that the Head of State chose to have a dispensation where members of a crippled Parliament, a dysfunctional Parliament, receive their salaries.
“You can’t change one fact, that they (MPs) have been duly elected by the people, and that the election to Parliament carries with it, by law, certain entitlements.
“So it is not a moral issue; it is a political issue. For those who shut the Parliament down, that recklessness should be placed at their doorstep…They have placed us in a situation where people’s monies are being spent because of this wrongful act done by the President.
“I believe the burden of any moral infraction should be placed at the feet of Ramotar, and I would say no more on the issue.”
Ramotar’s option to prorogue the Parliament instead of dissolving it and calling fresh general elections, ensured that the Parliamentarians who entered the House three years ago receive their Parliamentary pension.
They only qualify for the pension after exactly three years of service, and not a single day earlier.
That three-year period ended on Monday, so if the President had dissolved Parliament anytime before Monday, that pension would not have been secured.
Asked to comment on this, Nagamootoo said that  he does not believe the continuation of the current status quo could be stretched so far as to say that it was intended to give pension rights to new PPP Parliamentarians.
“That is not factual and…I don’t think it was done with that in mind. I believe the idea behind it was to simply defeat the No-Confidence motion. I wouldn’t credit Ramotar as going that far.”
AFC Executive member, Cathy Hughes, also commented on the matter. Hughes said that there seems to be the suggestion that the role of a Parliamentarian is purely within the confines of the National Assembly.
She said that as recent as last Saturday and yesterday afternoon, an AFC team went to an interior location and on the weekend it was in another area working.
“We as parliamentarians represent the people, and there are people who come into our offices every minute of the day. We have outreaches and visits to several places in Guyana on a regular basis—-three to four times a week even, so it’s not as if our work has stopped.
“We are not walking into the halls of the Parliament, regrettably, but our work continues,” the politician added.
She added that if the PPP Members of Parliament are willing to forego their payments in that capacity, then she and her colleagues would be more than happy to follow suit.
Nagamootoo added that those government MPs collecting the “million-dollar entitlement” should donate their monies to “some poor institution.”
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, will receive from January 1, a monthly parliamentary salary of $1.6 million in addition to a duty allowance, an entertainment allowance, which together is just $2,000. He also collects a travelling allowance and his telephone bills are paid. Prime Minister Samuel Hinds is paid the second highest salary – $1.5 million a month. And he receives allowances and benefits similar to those paid to Nandlall.
Parliamentarians who are Ministers of the Government are paid a salary of $579,000 per month. Many of these are also paid a ministerial salary. There are 17 of those, so at the end of the month, that adds up to close to over $10 million. Add their housing and chauffeur allowances, and you get another $2.1 million.
Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, is paid $198,694 plus other allowances by the Parliament. However, the government told the National Assembly that Teixeira earns $800,000 per month.
AFC MP Trevor Williams said that the Kaieteur News article also carried the misconception that the telephone and travel bills of Opposition MPs are paid as well. He produced his pay slip from the Parliament, and said that it is unreasonable to state that such services are paid for when the telephone allowance is $20 per month, entertainment allowance is $250 and duty allowance is $150.
“The telephone allowance, I think, would equate to voice message cost,” he added. But the records show that the parliament pays their cell phone and landline bills.
Williams stressed, “It’s unfair to be reporting to the public like this without proper and thorough investigation of the facts. Also, it suggests that if we don’t meet in parliament then there should be no payment.
“There are instances when we don’t meet for a month; even though it’s not prorogued, and we are paid our salaries … We got in the Parliament because we have been working outside. We aren’t just sitting on the street. We are concerned about how the taxpayers’ monies are being spent, but anyone can pick up the phone and call MPs to find out thorough details on what they are being paid.”
Hughes said, “The information in the article is definitely inaccurate. We want to encourage our journalists to operate to a higher standard. Call us anytime as you do.”
However, while the AFC held that view, Kaieteur News had premised its initial article based on a document (see accompanying chart) obtained from the National Assembly which shows the monthly rates of salaries and allowances of MPs as at January 1, 2015.
The salaries of Parliamentarians, including the Speaker’s, together adds up to $22.8 million monthly. If you multiply that by six, it means that in the time since the last sitting of the House, Parliamentarians have been paid $136 million to do nothing. If you add up the allowances over that time, you might want to put in a few million dollars more.

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