Despite campaign promise to refuse salary: US-indicted Azruddin Mohamed quietly assigned party member to collect Opposition Leader salary in cash – Teixeira

…says LOO not entitled to Govt vehicle

Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira on Wednesday said that despite a campaign promise to refuse a Parliamentary salary, United States-indicted Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed has quietly assigned a party member to uplift his salary on his behalf.

Teixeira made the revelation as she rejected claims made by Mohamed that he has been denied official state security and a Government vehicle, entitlements he claimed are guaranteed by law.
Teixeira says these claims are untrue.
“By the way, I remember during the campaign Mr Mohamed saying he would not be taking any salary. This is not true. Mr Mohamed is receiving his salary, and he has designated a particular member of his party to collect his salary in cash because, of course, you know Mr Mohamed has no bank account,” she highlighted.
She said, according to the country’s law, the Opposition Leader is entitled to the same benefits as a Government Minister.
“First of all, former Presidents, by law, under the Former Presidents Benefits Act, are entitled to security, vehicles, etc. So former President Jagdeo, as Leader of the Opposition, was entitled to those things. Mr Azruddin is not a former President and therefore is not entitled to the things that a former President would be entitled to,” the Minister clarified.
“The Act which covers Leader of the Opposition is the Leader of Opposition Benefits, which include the fact that he will receive the same as a Minister. So, Mr Mohamed will receive and has received the salary, benefits, allowances, and entitlements of Ministers. That includes security at his home… that is paid for by Parliament,” she further explained.
“However, there is security at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition whenever he designates the office and based on the rental threshold that has been set by Parliament,” she said, adding that the Parliament Office covers the expenses for three staff and operational costs such as electricity.
“So, this issue that he is entitled to these benefits that he sees former Presidents being able to access, do not apply to the Leader of the Opposition and therefore do not apply to Mr Mohamed,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister noted.
On the issue of duty-free concession, Teixeira explained that “as a Parliamentarian, as all 71 Parliamentarians in the House are entitled to duty-free concession. So, he does not have any special dispensation to do with duty-free. He has a duty-free concession based on being a Parliamentarian.”

No state-assigned vehicle
She added that the Opposition Leader has no entitlement to a state vehicle assigned to him.
Mohamed has alleged discrimination against him, claiming that he has not received his benefits as opposing leader.
But Teixeira contended that “clearly Mr Mohamed seems to have a vision of himself which is much bigger than what he is entitled to by law. So, he needs to be familiar with the laws of Guyana.”