Leonce confident Govt will not adopt SRC’s pay hike proposal
MP for Laventille East/Morvant and Minister in the Ministry of Housing Adrian Leonce believes the Government will not adopt the Salaries Review Commission’s (SRC) report proposing wage hikes for 950 state officials across 325 categories of offices at this time.
It is the first clear response from a government official regarding the report since it was laid in the Lower House on Friday.
Speaking with Guardian Media outside the Red House on his way to Parliament yesterday, Leonce said, “I don’t think it’s going to happen. Not at this point in time.” Asked if this was the position of the Cabinet, he said, “No, no, no, I am not in the Cabinet.”
Leonce, as a minister within a ministry, is not a member of the Cabinet, which is the sole lawful authority responsible for deciding whether to adopt the recommendations of an SRC report.
Nevertheless, it is a legal requirement for all SRC reports to be laid before Parliament.
Among the officials expected to get increases if the report is adopted are the President, Prime Minister, Opposition Leader, Chief Justice, Police and Prisons commissioners, and others.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Communications Minister Symon De Nobriga, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, Labour Minister Stephen Mc Clashie, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, and Minister in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning evaded SRC-related questions from the media outside Parliament.
Asked to respond, Manning said, “I cannot,” while Deyalsingh urged patience, saying “Wait for the debate.” McClashie deferred responsibility to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
However, a few opposition MPs have condemned the proposal, calling it an affront to the working class given the Chief Personnel Officer’s four per cent offer to public sector workers.
“We have thousands of public servants who have been told to tighten their belts over several years, and now you want to give the prime minister an 80-something-thousand dollar salary, and you want to give him a million dollars in back pay? I am just amazed that a government could even consider such a thing,” Ameen said, suggesting that Dr Rowley is worried he may lose the general election due next year and is seeking a large payout.
She added that while she would appreciate an increase, she will stand in solidarity with the working-class population. “Although I would love to have more money to do more things within my constituency that I do without my own pocket, I don’t mind not getting an increase given the current situation in the country.”
United National Congress deputy political leader Dr Roodal Moonilal would only say that his view will be expressed in Parliament, similar to Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein and Caroni East MP Rishad Seecharan.
Meanwhile, the Opposition Leader has not commented on the proposed increase, which could triple her salary.
Independent Senator:
MPs should not have purview over body
setting their salaries
Independent Senator Sunity Maharaj is calling for changes to the Constitution to ensure that parliamentarians should not have any purview over the body responsible for setting their salaries.
Maharaj was speaking with radio presenter Satesh Mahabir on Freedom 106.5FM yesterday. She said the time has come for constitutional reform to ensure that the Salaries Review Commission’s (SRC) is not under the purview of parliamentarians.
She suggested that a British model of an Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority be adopted. “The power to make that decision resides in the Cabinet, not with an independent authority, and I believe that’s the heart of the problem because I do think that you need some distance, and you need the decision to lie elsewhere, in an independent authority,” she explained.
Maharaj added that while the SRC reviewed private sector remuneration packages and sought to compare them to elected officials (such as a CEO to a Prime Minister), there is no role that actually compares to these positions.
“It’s a salacious argument to compare one to another,” she stated. She urged the Government, Opposition and civil society to hold discussions on the SRC report to seriously weigh the public’s opinion, especially in an election year.
Maharaj added, “The leaders of political parties and the leaders of chambers of commerce can pay a useful function by themselves organising their own members and doing a thorough discussion to help lift the level of public discourse. This is what they should be doing—they themselves are not doing these things”.
She said this also applies to churches.
On the public furore over the four per cent offered to public sector workers while state officials can likely receive exorbitant increases, Maharaj said, “Do so, don’t like so,” adding that it is the principle that counts.
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