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Govt. responds to implication by GPSU Head…Money found via audits not in any Special Fund
– transferred to National Treasury – Junior Finance Minister
Junior Minister of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma has offered clarity on a suggestion by President of the
Junior Finance Minister, Jaipaul Sharma
Guyana Public Service Union, Patrick Yarde, that monies found by the forensic audits are lying idle in various bank accounts.
According to Sharma, the monies found in the accounts unearthed by the audits have been transferred to the nation’s treasury.
Sharma said that he cannot comment on the negotiations which are currently ongoing. However, he said that the negotiating team is aware of the state’s finances and that should serve to inform their engagement with the union.
The Union is of the opinion that the money unearthed by the several audits can and should be used to provide public servants with a liveable wage.
In December 2015 Minister of Finance Winston Jordan had announced that the transfer of billions of dollars discovered during the forensic audits had begun. The first set of monies which were transferred totalled over $7 billion. One billion came from the audit of the National Industrial and Commercial Industries Limited, while the remainder came from the Lotto Fund, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and other agencies. The rest of transfers were to begin early this year.
The Union has expressed displeasure at the ‘final offer’ proposed by the Government’s negotiating team for several reasons.
The GPSU considers the ‘final offer’ proposed by the Government of Guyana for public servants to be an absurdity, since the state’s negotiating team has yet to address the issues of de-bunching and allowances.
A statement issued by the Union said that the two important components which were substantive parts of the negotiations have not been remotely addressed by the government’s delegation.
According to the Union, it had engaged the Government of Guyana in the wages, salaries and allowances negotiations with a clear mandate that the engagement should focus on the goals of a living wage for Public Servants, the resolution of the de-bunching issue within scales, and addressing the matter of the adequacy of allowances paid to public officers.
The Government’s team which was headed by Reginald Brotherson, Permanent Secretary, Department of Public Service, proposed a differentiated approach to increases which sought to provide the greatest relief to those within the lower salary bands of the Public Service Wages and Salaries Structure.
The government proposed as its final offer, persons earning below $100,000 would receive 5.5%; those earning $100,000 to $300,000 would receive 5%; persons earning $300,000 to $800,000 would receive 4.5%; those earning $800,000 to $1,000,000 would receive 2% and persons earning over a $1,000,000 would receive 1%. The below $100,000 percentage offer of 5.5% was later increased to 6%.
The Union is expected to present its position on the offer after its General Council meeting which is slated for tomorrow.
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