Dear Editor,
THE APNU/AFC Government is planning to reward itself with a substantial fifty percent salary increase amidst funding cuts for children (government vouchers each worth Gy$10,000, low wages for teachers, ultra-low pension payments and sky-high joblessness. The majority of Guyanese are barely surviving under harsh economic conditions, with no relief in sight. Out of despair, they are resorting to drugs, crime, and soliciting hand-outs among other means of survival. Those who cannot make it are often sucked into suicide.

No one deserves a life like this. Pension payments this low is a serious violation of the rights of seniors, but government bluntly refuses to address this problem. Instead, it is focusing on its own welfare. How can this ever be morally right? Editor, our country runs on donations and remittances for the most part. Just recently, our Prime Minister was publicly begging for international donations to buoy an agency. It is our responsibility as an independent nation to provide for ourselves.
Most of our agencies have gone bankrupt, or are on the verge of becoming so, because we do not have a proper attitude towards development.

Development comes with hard work and delayed gratification. Can we take pride in our actions when we beg for money to support our lifestyle? This should not be a way of life. How long will the world continue to shoulder our burden? Governments’ actions are typically authoritarian.

Assaults like these have destroyed our country and have eclipsed the lives of innocent Guyanese. Dollars allotted to pamper Government can be meaningfully redirected to pay school teachers a decent salary, so as to attract and retain the best in providing a quality education. This will guarantee us a path out of poverty.

I am sure if Government leaders were not the beneficiaries of this salary increase, they would have condemned it. This story gets even more ridiculous when one realises that government has been in office for less than six months and the country is on a downward spiral.

How can a salary increase be justified under these circumstances? It seems that we have jumped from the frying pan, escaping the PPP/C, right into the fire under the APNU/AFC Government. We did not expect unpatriotic behaviours to be markers of change. Is this what Government meant by change?

Joseph Harmon wasted no time in spinning propaganda that this salary increase is an anti-corruption strategy. Who does Mr Harmon think he is tricking? No Guyanese will believe him. As citizens, we need to kill this idea of a pay hike by all means. It is not good at all, especially not for social cohesion.

Dr. Cecil Dilipkumar