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I do not mind paying people fair wages, but they need to deliver

Oct 13, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
With the furore surrounding pay increases for Government Ministers and Members of Parliament at full hilt, most of the urban based so-called interest groups are simply reacting to the pompous words of the Minister of State, the latter needing to eat the humble pie. Missing from his rhetoric is the fact that under the recently passed Bill No3/2015, passed on 30 July 2015, which amends the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, Cap. 73:02, “(i) to extend the application of the Act to the responsible Minister”, means Ministers are now responsible for allocations assigned to their Ministries. Therefore, not only can they be reprimanded by Parliament but also can now be brought before the courts to answer charges of wrong doing, unlike what transpired in Guyana for the last 49 years. A huge milestone in Guyana’s history. With this added responsibility, ministers are more than deserving of additional income. A law like this was unheard of under the past PNC and the PPP administrations and is also unrelated to the internal Code of Conduct the President has designed for members of the Cabinet and the Budget measure put in place by the Finance Minister to have each Ministry set up performance monitoring and evaluating systems.
The late Singaporean Leader, father of their nation, Lee Kuan Yew, is famous for building a road to his home from the airport upon his assumption to office. He was duly criticized since none of the country’s roads were in a state of repair. In 1994 he is noted for linking Ministers’ salaries to those of top professionals in the private sector, as it would ensure recruitment and retention of talent to serve. Guyana has been contextualized by corruption, a disease which has ravaged the country. Therefore, one should appreciate this endemic ill giving rise to salary increases for Ministers. Many past government Ministers currently live in large palatial homes, unknown from where they were funded. One has to live in the business world, not locked away in little noble castles to understand that much of those gory and persuasive temptations continue to exist when public officials engage with the private sector. I also hope these salaries prevent Ministers from needing to use an opaque health fund to repair their teeth or obtain loans for personal matters.
Like the then Singaporean government, many key Ministries here in Guyana have embarked on five-year plans to restructure a badly wounded country, following years of corruption, greed and nepotism. What should perhaps also have accompanied the salary announcement is this fervent drive to put Guyana on a growth path. Targets and benchmarks would have helped to further justify these salary increases. I do not mind paying people fair wages, but they need to deliver.
Finally, comments coming from the Opposition on this and other issues, continue to sound ludicrous given their historical transgressions post-Cheddi Jagan’s death in 1996. It reminds the public of the PNC in opposition post 1992 and onwards where no one took them seriously. Sadly, the PPP has embarked PNC-like path with the likes of Irfan Ali, Jennifer Westford, Jagdeo, Lamumba, Bheri Ramsaran, Nandalall, Pauline Sukhai, Neend Kumar, Rohee, Ganga Persaud and Texiera to name a few, only bringing a helluvah baggage to the table. The coalition government will pay them scant regard as the PPP and the country did to the PNC back then. Their only chance of staying relevant and perhaps gain support is trying to find new blood with refreshing and constructive approaches to win over people. The difference this time around from 1992 is that Granger has opened the door of engagement. The PPP’s tradition and habit of sitting on the fence and throwing talk will not gain momentum in such an open door environment and its chance of tempering any APNU-AFC’s excesses, becomes significantly lowered because of its tainted pack of Shadow Ministers, more so when public comments are aired at press conferences.
Latchman Singh

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