‘We did not negotiate the increase’
Under fire Holness Administration points to system which determined big pay rise for politicians
FACED with a mountain of criticism over the big increase granted to members of the political directorate, the Andrew Holness Administration has started to fire back, even while admitting that it expected this response.
In announcing the increase in Parliament on Tuesday, Minister of Finance Dr Nigel Clarke declared that the levels of salary increases to the political directorate would, “attract attention, and rightly so”.
He underscored that the public sector restructuring, which the Government has embarked on, resulted in significant movement in the salary scales for a majority of the people who work in the public service.
“It was bold of the Government to undertake this reform and it is bold to propose these changes now. We believe this to be in the best interest of Jamaica. It is not about who occupies these positions today, it is about the quality Jamaica will be able to attract and retain in positions of political leadership, at all levels, tomorrow and beyond. This compensation structure is an investment in our future.
“We hope that more qualified and experienced Jamaicans will find it attractive and financially feasible to offer themselves to serve their country through the administrative public service or through the political directorate,” Clarke told the House.
But that did not stop the critics on social and traditional media with comments including: “Parliamentarians can award themselves massive increases and appear puzzled by the level of distrust and disdain they get from the public,” from one contributor to the Jamaica Observer.
Another contributor charged that: “The unconscionable 200 per cent or more raise in salaries will inevitably leave a bitter taste in the mouths of workers who were, to an extent, bullied recently to accept the paltry increase that was offered.”
With many similar sentiments being expressed, minister with responsibility for information Robert Morgan was the one asked to justify the increase at the weekly post-cabinet media briefing on Wednesday.
Morgan pointed to the formula used to determine the increase to members of the political directorate as he sought to douse the blazing fire.
“The increase comes as part of a public sector transformation process [and] the question that we also have to ask ourselves…is where on the scale should Members of Parliament sit,” said Morgan as he pointed to the long-established structure that Cabinet ministers should be paid $52 more than permanent secretaries each year.
“Permanent secretaries received a significant increase…and we did not interfere with the structure that was operating for the past 20-odd years. So it is not a case where the Government got up and said, ‘Okay, we are going to give the ministers a massive increase’, it is an increase that is based on the formula that is accepted,” added Morgan.
He, like Clarke did in Parliament on Tuesday, pointed to several other categories of public servants who have received increases of 200 per cent and more as he argued that this was part of a long-deserved restructuring of the public sector wage packages.
“The MPS never went and negotiated an increase. Their increase is predicated in a pre-existing formula that was almost automatic, so if you are going to lift [the salaries of] permanent secretaries, the minister is going to be automatically lifted as well,” said Morgan.
He told the media briefing that Prime Minister Andrew Holness has challenged members of his Cabinet and Members of Parliament to work even harder to show Jamaicans that they deserve the salaries they are now being paid.
“What needs to happen now, and the prime minister was very clear about it, is that MPS and ministers, on both sides of the isle, now have an ultimate responsibility to demonstrate to the people of Jamaica, even more than they were doing before, that we are working for them,” added Morgan.