Why doesn’t PPP/C cancel this salary increase?

Dear Editor,

Sometime in 2015, when the UNPA+AFC government came to power, it gave ministers and parliamentarians a huge pay rise. This increase caused a huge outcry from the then PPP/C, civil society and many Guyanese. A motion was tabled in parliament by the PPP/C calling for the salary increases to be revoked via the annulment of the two decrees that created them, but this was rejected by parliamentarians from the APNU+AFC coalition government. The PPP/C, then an opposition party, even announced that its deputies would not accept the salary increases as approved by the government. Many civil society groups also criticized the wage increase at the time.

Now that the PPP/C is in government and has a majority in parliament, they can easily move a motion to revoke the order that gave rise to this salary increase or they can move a motion to cut ministers’ salaries. and parliamentarians and bring it to its original position before the increase. Why haven’t they done it yet? They reversed most of the tax hikes that the UNPA+AFC had imposed during the government’s term, but they did not address the case of the increase in the salaries of parliamentarians and ministers.

Why aren’t the civil society groups that opposed the increase in the first place calling on the PPP/C government to keep its promise to reverse the wage increase? We in Guyana have very short memories and as such politicians are not held accountable for their words and they are able to make empty promises to the people without any consequences. Keep your word, Mr. Jagdeo, and reverse the pay raise.

Respectfully,

Shawn Sam