THERE is a great deal of talk and writing about the proposed salary increases for our senior politicians, including the President, the Vice Presidents, Senior and Junior Ministers, and Members of Parliament. It is a sensitive issue, and just about every citizen has an opinion. A great number of our citizens seem to find these salary increases to be unreasonable and untimely.
There have been a series of cross-signals in the press. Unions and their veterans have weighed in, adding to the entanglement. All reported in the press, and all for or against, vilification or verification or vindication. To most of us, it is all very confusing. The justification for the increases in vice-presidential and ministerial salaries is communicated through percentages and comparative statistics. The Minister of State has tried to convey the justification. It makes sense for people who are adroit with statistics and percentages and figures.

It could all be because the messages of vilification and justification are simply not clear to many. It could be that the ordinary folk of this country would prefer talk in dollars and cents and to be shown clearly what it means to them. Many of this nation cannot even conceive of one hundred thousand dollars or so per month, much less millions per year. It must seem so exorbitant –it is a matter of perception, and politicians ought to be cognisant of perception and perspective.

It may be a matter of the manner in which we convey the message rather than the substance of the message. The envelope rather than the letter in which, the letter is pouched. Maybe. Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo has even gone on record of saying that the issue was not communicated properly and blamed his office which has responsibility for public information for this breakdown. We hope not to add to the confusion, but in other places in the world people are paid according to qualifications and experience. Politicians ought not to be exempt from this basic remunerative principle, something which President David Granger has alluded to in making reference to the salaries some of his ministers earned while working in the private sector.

Many of our new ministers in our new government have little governance experience, but many are well qualified. Of course, being in government is not equivalent to experience in governance. This goes for all governments, whatever the stripe and era. The issue may not even be qualifications, since a first degree in law is not equal to a doctorate. And then not all doctorates are equal, especially given the fact that many who hold doctorates are woeful as administrators.
What about a person who has served as a defence lawyer with excellence or a prosecutor with excellence?  In essence, it is about the standards that we use to measure our service. Does sheer hard work matter? Hard work is not equivalent to results, but hard work should be recognised as being so. Back to competence! As taxpayers, we would be happy to reward competence. We should be, anyway. So qualifications plus industry plus effort plus competence.

Qualifications plus proven competence plus dogged hard work plus results ought to be rewarded highly. Many of our ministers are working practically around the clock. Apart from the seeming not-so-good communication is the fact that our efforts are bedevilled by the red tape we have inherited and that we cannot seem capable of changing. This change takes a different kind of quiet work. It may not be popular and may not be broadcast, but it is all so desperately needed.

In the world of business, they know full well the idea of incentive and encouragement. Governing a country is business, so yes, incentives. In the world of politics anywhere, the time for politicians to give themselves a pay hike is never right. If these salary increases were to be done in two or three or four years, the time still will not be right. It never is. The amount or percentage of increases will never be right either. Perception again, so communication again. Clear, simple, concise and precise communication. It is communication that governs perception. Make it simple. Geniuses make very complex things seem simple; the mediocre makes simple things seem difficult. The latter make much ado about nothing.