Dear Editor,

THE main opposition has been making a lot of noise about the announced seven per cent across-the-board increase in salary for public servants, teachers, pensioners, and staff of constitutional agencies. This was expected, since ‘making noise’ is the only activity the opposition APNU can be relied on to execute with perfection. Importantly, APNU is hoping that the noise about the salary increase will drown out all the progress made by the government since it assumed office in August 2020 and distract Guyanese from the economic mess they left behind for the new government to clean up.

The reasonableness of the salary increase must not be viewed in isolation, but within the context of the election impasse and COVID-19 pandemic that constrained the government from addressing the salary of public servants since last year. Had the APNU respected the people’s will and conceded since its defeat at the March 2020 elections, the new government would have had almost nine months instead of three months to include a salary increase in its first budget in 2020. The economic uncertainty generated by the political impasse, which added to the uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic, also made it difficult for the new government to effectively plan for salary increases in the first two budgets.

The salary increase must also be viewed against the background of all the tax measures and targeted interventions that benefitted public servants, teachers, members of the disciplined services, and citizens, generally. Unlike the APNU, which handed public servants salary increase with one hand and took back more in the form of taxes with another, the new government has given tax reliefs, cash grants, and salary increases simultaneously. Therefore, public servants have enjoyed a net gain from the new government’s initiative, rather than the net loss they suffered under the APNU government which took more from Guyanese in the form of taxes than it paid out in higher wages. Based on the Bank of Guyana’s Statistical Bulletin, the average increase in emoluments between 2015 and 2020 was 9.3 per cent, compared with the increase in PAYE of 12 per cent for the corresponding period.

The government also granted the increase against the background of the recent flood that resulted in significant losses to the key economic sector. To return these sectors that were already harmed by the political impasse and COVID-19 pandemic, on the road toward recovery, the new government approved a supplementary appropriation of G$10 billion.

In my humble view, the seven per cent increase is reasonable and laudable, given the background of uncertainty created by the political impasse and COVID-19 pandemic, which has made economic planning and wage negotiation difficult. Most countries, even those in Europe, have postponed salary negotiations since the COVID-19 pandemic and instead focused on measures to preserve salary levels and safeguard the well-being of citizens. Our new government must be commended for its progressive approach in dealing with these matters.

Yours sincerely,
Withhold name and address