2023 gov’t workers 6.5 percent pay hike “pitiful”- Opposition Leader

Last Updated on Saturday, 9 December 2023, 16:52 by Denis Chabrol

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton on Saturday slammed the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC)-led administration’s “shame” and “pitiful” 6.5 percent salary increase for 2023 as one that forces Guyanese into sustained poverty.

“They see political gain and virtue in keeping workers and citizens poor and dependent,” he said in reaction to Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh’s announcement that 54,000 government workers would benefit from the salary increase retroactive to January 2023.

Mr Norton said the “ridiculous” pay hike represents less than 1 percent of this year’s GY$782 billion National Budget.

“Shamefully, this increase is below this year’s rate of inflation and inadequate to help citizens handle the already high and escalating cost of living. Subjectively and objectively, public servants are worse off now than they were under the APNU+AFC Coalition government.

Citizens are less capable of making ends meet. They can buy less food and fewer goods. They can save less. They are less confident and more hopeless. They have less money to spend on Christmas,” said Mr Norton who leads the parliamentary opposition coalition of A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).

The Opposition Leader suggested that members of the Disciplined Services deserved much more than the PPPC administration’s customary one-off tax-free year-end bonus due to heightened tensions between Guyana and Venezuela over this country’s 160,000 square mile Essequibo County. “To add insult to injury, the members of our Disciplined Services will only receive a token one-off bonus, despite the escalating threat to our territorial integrity and sovereignty. This is the extent to which the PPP values the protection of our homeland and the welfare of Guyanese,” he said. Government said that for the first time, civilians in the Guyana Defence Force would also receive the tax-free one-month salary.

The David Granger-led APNU+AFC administration had scrapped the annual tax-free one-month salary on the basis that it would not add to retirement benefits such as pensions and gratuities.

The Opposition Leader pointed out that this year, Guyana’s national budget and economy stand at nearly triple the 2019 level, raising questions among Guyanese about why the oil money is not reaching their pockets. “Many have already concluded that if the PPP can’t give public servants a substantial salary increase now, it never will,” he said.  He seized the opportunity to reiterate his promise that the next coalition government will ensure public servants share in the benefits of Guyana’s economic growth and oil wealth.

“Our nation’s natural endowment belongs to all citizens. We will make Guyana one of the best countries for workers and public servants to live in,” he added.

Mr Norton, recalling that the APNU+AFC government had increased public servants’ salaries by 77 percent, cautioned that if there is no living wage, the brain drain would continue. “Guyana cannot lift the quality of life of citizens if its public servants have to flee its shores for respect and betterment. We cannot educate our children, keep our streets safe, deliver quality healthcare to our citizens, and service economic activity without a motivated and well-compensated public service,” he said.

While in opposition, the PPPC had promised hefty salary increases while at the same time accusing APNU+AFC of raising ministers’ salaries by 50 percent within the first few months of coming to office in 2015.