Dear Editor,
The recently announced 7 per cent pay raise for public servants has undoubtedly created quite a discussion in Opposition circles. The discussion ranges from the 7 per cent is not enough to that pay rise should be 50 per cent and rising. Well, I do not know which of the two sounds reasonable, however, I am very certain that there is no territory on planet earth – especially during this pandemic – that has given a pay rise like ours. The point is our Government has been more than generous in its offer to the public servants and for that, I say thank you Government.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, let us take a step back and look into what was obtained under the previous APNU/AFC Government. In the first instance, they raised their salaries and emoluments by 50 per cent before ever considering their duties to the people who put them there. I would sarcastically add quite a “caring Government” that is taking care of yourself and then see “if” you can accommodate the people and this is exactly what the coalition Government did.
When this so-called “genius Jordan” realised that the treasury was depleted from his reckless, corrupt spending, he quickly raised every taxable income area he could put his hands on. I am talking about over two hundred new taxes. Most of our taxation which in essence is a reduction in liveable income was crafted and executed by the APNU regime. Then came the huge chopping of benefits, because we care for the school kids and the removal of the Christmas bonuses for the Disciplined Services. The list is long; the list is endless.
We come to the public service, by this time we were well into the fourth year of the coalition’s mismanagement and the public servants were not given an increase. There was some sabre-rattling about industrial action but nothing substantial, as you would reckon it is a public service that is heavily APNU supporters who were totally embarrassed by their own. It took the astute intervention of Dr Bharrat Jagdeo to twist the arm of Jordan to give them something.
Jordan responded by giving the public servants 10 per cent. To a casual onlooker that ten per cent seems real, but is it? The fact of the matter is when you look carefully at that sum in actuality it is an unreal figure because it was 10 per cent spread over 4 years which is 2.5 per cent raise only the last year being tax-free. This is what the PNC did, the public servants got nothing.
Compare that with the restoration of the benefits and a 7 per cent retroactive pay rise from January of this year and you would see that the public servants got a reasonable pay increase.
Now, the charlatans of economic development are at their usual post, preaching their usual nonsense that the public servants deserve better, they are even pushing for industrial action. This is ludicrous, to say the least, because when you compare what existed under the same individuals who are crying foul and what we are presently experiencing, you will see a vast improvement in the standard of living, only those who are so blinded by hate and political bias cannot see this! What I would kindly ask the detractors to do, is to seriously take an introspection of themselves and the falsehoods they are peddling, then get a grip of reality.
Respectfully,
Neil Adams
