Dear Editor,

KINDLY publish this letter which I do hope will spur some national debate on the issue of the six-month exclusive breast-feeding programme, which we may see implemented as early as 2017.Public Health Minister Dr. George Norton and Social Protection Minister Ms. Volda Lawrence have been made extremely ecstatic by the recent pronouncement in regard to the six-month maternity leave benefit for all working mothers, which will bring Guyana in line with the PAHO guideline.

This six-month exclusive breast feeding, Dr Norton says, will mean healthier children and mothers, and would increase productivity of women on their jobs. In fact, more working mothers will be encouraged to breast feed other than the meagre 23% currently doing so, according to a UNICEF Report.

In addition, Minister Norton, in November 2015, even went further and advocated that paternity leave be given to fathers in order to allow them to be involved in child care, to get a break from work, and to give their wives a break from child-rearing.

Minister Lawrence is adamant that the six-month maternity leave should become law as early as next year.

I am in total agreement with these benefits. However, while the health benefits of this extended maternity leave are being extolled, there is the question of whether our fragile economy is ready for such a move. We know for a fact that the mere labelling of our economy as an upper middle income one does nothing to hide the fact that it is only the top 5-10% of people in this country who are actually enjoying the increased GDP.

There is no doubt that great inequalities of income exist in Guyana, and nearly 40% of our working population, mostly youths, are unemployed. There is also no doubt that the private sector is currently experiencing a downward spiral, which needs sound financial policies for it to recuperate, not additional burdens, especially increasing employment costs which will push the operational costs upward.

Such increasing costs will definitely erode the profit margins of businesses, and may force them to transfer those costs to consumers. Currently, the three months’ leave is financed by NIS and the employer.

In view of these increased economic costs, Dr. Shamdeo, the country’s Chief Medical Officer, has warned that employers may not be willing to sign formal employment contracts with women.

While this is also a serious possibility, these increased employment costs may result in reduced female employment, leading to deteriorating employment prospects because of increasing costs of operation to businesses.

Moreover, wage discrepancies may widen because of the seeming additional burden of employing women.
Furthermore, apart from the actual increased employment costs, employers will face the additional burden and costs associated with the training and development of substitute staff.

This will impact heavily on the private sector in such areas as manufacturing, wholesale and retail, hotels and restaurants.

In view of the foregoing, there is definitely a need to do a special labour survey to ascertain the number of females who are employed in both the private and public sectors, those who have given birth, those who are actually breast feeding their children; and make an assessment of what the estimated increase in employment costs will be. Do the numbers.

Having done so, the Government should set up a system whereby the wages of the persons on leave are financed by a public or private-funded scheme. This scheme will ensure that employees on the six-month maternity leave will receive their wages from such a fund. This scheme should be fully undertaken by the Government, not private businesses. The private business will already be bearing the costs associated with the decreased productivity of new employees and the associated costs of training and development.

The creation of such a scheme will assist the employers, who can then use the unspent wage bill to take on temporary staff to substitute for the mothers who are on six-month maternity leave.

The big question here is whether all mothers will embark on this exclusive six-month breast-feeding programme when, for obvious reasons, some young mothers feel that breast feeding is taboo. Some may be selfish in nature. In my days, I could vividly recall that my mother would be working in the fields and yet be able to breast feed me for nearly a year. This was the norm in those days, and many hard working mothers suckled sometimes as many as 10 children!

Therefore, many mothers today may just enjoy the paid vacation with no regard for the numerous health benefits to the child and themselves!
Yours sincerely,
HASEEF YUSUF