Bill should have catered for all former PMs – Nagamootoo

Hamilton Green Pension Bill

Singling out Hamilton Green for a legislative package that statutes pension and other benefits of a former Prime Minister might not have been the best course of action since the package should have been tailored to suit all former Prime Ministers of Guyana.

This was the view expressed by sitting Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, who was on Friday asked to weigh in on the now public discourse over the legislative package being promulgated by Government to hand to former Prime Minister Hamilton Green, a pension package calculated at the salary of the current office holder.Nagamootoo was at the time addressing members of the media as he hosted the Alliance For Change’s bi-weekly engagement with members of the press corps to deal with matters of public importance.
Asked to weigh in on why the Bill was drafted to suit solely Hamilton Green and not cater for all former Prime Ministers, Nagamootoo told members of the media, “It may be an issue that we may want to re-look as to why it was the Hamilton Green Pension Bill and not former Prime Minister Pension Bill.”He used the occasion to suggest that “If you want something to be seen as equitable, it has to have a broader rubric that allows it, maybe to have it as a futuristic piece of legislation rather than simply trying to go back to correct an anomaly.”
The anomaly referred to by Nagamootoo is the fact that Green is the only living former Prime Minister in Guyana, rather than receiving a pension in keeping with that post, is instead being paid a pension as a former member of the National Assembly.Conceding validity in the argument to have the Bill be tailored to cater for all former Prime Ministers of Guyana, Nagamootoo disclosed to members of the media that when the matter came up for discussion at the Cabinet level, it was to deal with whether Green should be afforded a pension commensurate with the salary of a Prime Minister.Nagamootoo did use the occasion to also concede that he has in fact not seen the draft bill to cater for Green’s benefits.

Green’s pension

Under the proposed bill – slated to be tabled by Finance Minister Winston Jordan on Monday – Green’s pension would be tabulated at the rate of the salary being earned by the sitting Prime Minister.This would mean that Green’s pension package, in addition to the benefits and other facilities,would amount to in excess of $20 million annually.
Arguing in favour of the proposed pension package for Green, Prime Minister Nagamootoo said he believes that the matter has to be seen in context, both its historical and peculiar nature. “There is only one former Prime Minister that is available for any benefits… that’s Hamilton Green.”He used the occasion to point out that there is no law that caters for the pension and other benefits for a former Prime Minister which led to Green only receiving a pension that was calculated on his salary as a Member of Parliament.
The situation, he said, should be seen in that light and not in a personal manner.According Nagamootoo, politics should be kept out of the realm of rationale decision making when it comes to such matters.News of the legislative package to benefit Green surfaced earlier this week when the National Assembly released its Order of Business for its next sitting on Monday.According to the parliamentary Order of Business, Jordan will present to the House, on behalf of Government the “Prime Minister Hamilton Green Pension Bill”. That Bill, according to the description in the Order Paper, will pave the way for an Act “to provide a pension, benefits and other facilities to Hamilton Green, Prime Minister from 1985 to 1992, to enable him to live in keeping with the high office he occupied”.
Guyana Times has since seen a copy of the proposed legislation which outlines that the Prime Minister Hamilton Green Pension Act 2016 and shall come into operation on December 1, 2016.Green served as Guyana’s Prime Minister under the People’s National Congress (PNC) Desmond Hoyte Administration up until October 1992. In March 1993, Green sued the PNC for violation of his constitutional rights when that party at its Congress voted to expel him from the party.
He currently serves at the helm of the Central Planning and Housing Authority – a position he was appointed to following the May 2015 electoral victory by the PNC-led APNU/AFC coalition.