Let Int’l Commission decide on Green’s pension

Dear Editor,
Since the issue of parliamentary approval of additional monetary pension and benefits to Hamilton Green has been questioned, an international commission of jurists should be set up to determine whether the former PNC dictator is eligible for a pension for services rendered before Guyana became a democracy in 1992. If the commission rules he is entitled to a pension, then he should get it. If the commission recommends prosecution for criminal allegations, then he could be indicted. Green should submit himself to such conditions. It is noted that Green is currently receiving a salary as head of CHPA (Housing Authority). Can he get a pension for State service while he is CEO of a State company? Isn’t that double dipping?
Every country has rules governing pension benefits for those who served the State; there are minimum qualifications (time served) for a State pension. For example, in Trinidad, a MP gets a pension based on eight years of service. I am told that similar criteria applies to Guyana and other Caribbean territories for pension for MPs or other government officials. The amount of pension one receives is tied to position, title, salary and time served.
No government official who meets the minimum criteria in serving the State has been denied a pension in the Caribbean except in two cases noted below. Those who don’t meet the minimum threshold can still receive a pension based on an act of Parliament. Such an act was passed in the1960s to enable several MPs who served during the colonial era to get a pension. Balram Singh Rai was excluded from the act allegedly because of his personal conflict with Dr Jagan; Rai served as Home Affairs Minister under Premier Jagan. Burnham was approached post-independence to approve a pension for Rai. He stated he would do it if Jagan or PPP introduces or backs the bill. There was no way Jagan would support an act beneficial to Rai. Dr Fenton Ramsahoye was also denied a pension although he served almost ten years as a MP and Attorney General under Jagan – allegedly because of differences with Jagan and Forbes Burnham. Ramsahoye told me that Burnham requested certification that he, Ramsahoye, was alive. Ramsahoye certified in 1973 that he was alive, but Burnham denied him the pension saying Ramsahoye did not certify he was alive in 1972 – that is one for the books.
What is clear in the democratic Caribbean and other democracies like the US or UK or India, etc is if you served the State as an official under the minimum period of time, you are entitled to a pension. However, some countries deny pension benefits to officials who were or are engaged in criminal acts. In New York and other states, for example, if you commit a crime as a state employee or Government official you forfeit pension benefits. The same is true in other democracies like India or UK. Did Green commit any crime? If you become a MP or Minister or Prime Minister through electoral fraud, do you qualify for a pension? Was Green linked to a group that murdered Indians and raped women during the 1960s? He was accused of racial violence in the 1992 elections. Ogunseye and Hinds linked him to the murder of Rodney. He was also accused in the shooting of Dr Josh Ramsammy, Vincent Teekah and the death of Shirley Field Ridley. No investigations were ever carried into the countless allegations against Green. Now is the opportunity for Green to clear his name by submitting himself before a commission.
Does Green meet the criteria for a pension? Can he get more than one pension? How many pensions is he entitled to since he served in several capacities? Can he get a State salary (CHPA) and a pension at the same time?
In Guyana, after Bharrat Jagdeo became Opposition Leader, the coalition said Jagdeo had to choose between Presidential pension and Opposition Leader salary. The State said Jagdeo could not get two State incomes (salary and pension) simultaneously. So under this rule, Green also should not get two or more State incomes at the same time.
It is noted that Khemraj Ramjattan and Moses Nagamootoo are supporting this special pension package for Green. But they have not acted consistently on pension matters. On the denial of pension to Rai and Ramsahoye as noted above, Ramjattan had committed to introducing a bill in Parliament in 2006 to give the two gentlemen their due benefits – right a historic wrong. He broke his promise and never introduced the bill. In 2011, Nagamootoo also committed to introducing a bill to grant Rai and Ramsahoye their deserved pension. He also broke his promise. Ramjattan and Nagamootoo have found time to argue in support of a pension for a controversial political figure like Green but not decent ex-politicians like Rai and Ramsahoye. They latter two are more deserving and more entitled to State pensions than Green. Where is the sense of fairness that Nagamootoo has been known for? It is not too late for the AFC leadership to introduce a bill to correct a pension injustice against Rai and Ramsahoye.

Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram