Norton gets $1.8M salary, other benefits for doing “practically nothing” – VP Jagdeo

– defends PPP/C track record on salary increases for public servants

General Secretary of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has lashed out at Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton for criticizing the government’s recent salary increase announcements for public servants, disclosing that the politician collects some $1.8 million in salary along with other benefits.
Earlier this week, President Dr Irfaan Ali announced a retroactive 10 per cent salary increase for public servants this year and a further eight per cent pay hike in 2025 along with a host of other benefits.

In criticizing these measures, the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Opposition, of which Norton is the leader, cited the Head of State’s $2.9 million monthly salary to accuse the government of being anti-poor by giving large sums of money to the rich and pittance to the poor.
But Jagdeo, at his weekly press conference on Thursday, argued that President Ali works to earn that salary as opposed to the Opposition Leader, whose total emoluments, allowances and other benefits amount to more than $1.8 million per month.
“So, $1.8 million Norton earns for doing nothing practically. This excludes his annual vacation allowance and other annual payments…and he also gets a budget to run his office running into tens of millions of dollars… That’s what Norton gets now, but he complains about everyone else [when he does] nothing practically, just walking around the place and being a nuisance. At least [President] Ali is working,” the PPP General Secretary stated.
In further dismissing the Opposition’s narrative that the PPP Administration is shortchanging public servants – which was also peddled by the Alliance For Change (AFC) fraction of the Opposition, Jagdeo pointed out that even the lower end of the public service wages is more competitive than the private sector.
The Vice President in his comparison highlighted that public servants have benefited from a whopping 80 per cent increase in wages and salaries during the PPP’s current term in office against a mere 36 per cent under the previous A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) regime’s five years.
“In five years, your salary increases were less than the 50 per cent [which the Coalition] ministers took three months after they got into office,” Jagdeo, who is also the country’s Vice President, declared.
According to the Vice President, the PPP/C Administration has successfully increased the overall public sector wages. In Central Government, the wage bill moved from $71.8 billion in 2020 to $121.4 billion in 2024 with the recent 10 per cent increase – a growth of $49.6 billion more per year.
For Public enterprises, the wage bill was $16.1 billion in 2020 and is now $24 billion this year, representing a $7.9 billion or 49 per cent increase. As it relates to statutory bodies, the wage bill grew from $38.9 billion in 2020 to $65.2 billion in 2024.
“For the whole of the public sector, in 2020, the wage bill was $126.8 billion, it’s now $210.7 billion per year. That means, it’s $83.9 billion more per year that the public sector is currently getting from the Government of Guyana…So, this is a significant increase; that is a 66 per cent increase,” he noted, adding that this benefits over 70,000 persons.
Next year, with the application of the eight per cent increase, Jagdeo outlined that the public sector wage bill will further move from $126 billion to $227 billion – reflecting an 80 per cent increase over the five years that the PPP/C Government has been in office.
“The public sector [will be getting] $100 billion more per year now than they were getting in 2020. This works out to US$500 million more per year than they were getting in 2020,” he argued.
The 10 per cent salary increase for 2024 and eight per cent for 2025 were part of a landmark two-year agreement that the Guyana Government recently signed with the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU).
In addition, the Government also inked a historic three-year deal with the University of Guyana Workers’ Union (UGWU) and the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association that will see their members getting a 10 per cent salary hike in 2024, eight per cent in 2025, and nine per cent in 2026 – a move that ensures parity with previous agreements signed with the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU).
Back in August, the Education Ministry and the GTU inked a three-year agreement for teachers to get a 10 per cent salary increase in 2024, an eight per cent increase in 2025 and a nine per cent increase in 2026.
Moreover, only on Wednesday, the Government, through the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), signed a similar three-year agreement with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU). This deal will see sugar workers benefiting from a retroactive across-the-board pay rise of 10 per cent for 2024, another eight per cent in 2025 and a further nine per cent in 2026.
According to the Vice President, these agreements not only bring benefits to public servants but also represent the government’s commitment to working with the unions for the betterment of workers in the public sector. Further assured that the Government will ensure similar arrangements are reached with the other workers’ unions.
“We’re hoping that we will continue to work with the other unions to conclude agreements of a similar nature for the rest of the public servants. If we do not have any agreement with their unions, the 10 per cent increase that we’ve given to the GTU and the GAWU and the GPSU will be paid out to those others in the public sector.”
“So, this is something that is a great movement forward. It recognises the role that our public servants play and it treats them with respect. And APNU is just sour about this all. They’re not happy… Next year is election year, they’re not happy that this has happened and you see that reflected in the sour comments they make,” Jagdeo posited during Thursday’s press conference at PPP’s Freedom House Head Office on Robb Street. (G-8)