THE EDITOR, Sir:THE HON. Minister of Finance and Planning is reported to have made a statement in Parliament on December 18, 2002 to the effect that retired Parliamentarians were suffering financial hardship because of their small pensions and the Government intended to introduce legislation to redress this situation.
In the matter of pensions the only significant difference between the Parliamentarian and the civil servant is their minimal contribution and that whereas it takes the civil servant 33 years of service to qualify for full pension, a Parliamentarian only has to serve in Parliament for nine years for equal treatment.
Pensions are calculated based on the salary being earned by an individual at the time of retirement. Persons in government service, whether Parliamentarian or civil servant, who retired in the 1970s, 1980s and up to mid-1990s are all in the same boat. During that period salaries were abominably low and, consequently, pensions were miniscule compared to today's pensions. For example, when I retired as a Deputy Financial Secretary with 36 years of service, in 1979, I was awarded a gratuity and a reduced pension of $8,850 a year ($737.50 a month). Today, an officer of the identical rank and service would be awarded a gratuity and a reduced pension of the order of $1,536,000 a year ($128,000 a month) based on the most recent adjustment to salaries.
In spite of continuing representation over the past 25 years by government pensioners, no policy was established by the Government for structured increases to cushion the inevitable increases in the cost of living over time. By 1991, the condition of government pensioners became desperate and in response to desperate representation by the pensioners, the Government of the day established a policy of annual increases.
This annual increase regime was unstructured and not planned to address the disparities then existing; it was more like a gratuitous hand-out by the Government to be distributed as best as was possible. Thus, the monthly pension of 1979 ($737.50) has increased to approximately $25,700 in January 2003 - a factor of just over 34 in 23 years. The relevant factor for today's retiree ($128,000) is 177.
The real truth is, that, the increases granted by the Government over the past 25 years, although welcome and gratefully accepted, have not provided an income on which a senior civil servant or Parliamentarian could subsist at anything near the level existing at the time of retirement.
Parliamentarians have not been more loyal or dedicated to the service of Jamaica than senior civil servants nor have they contributed more to the advancement of the country. Many Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Departments and other senior civil servants have, in the past, died in penury and financial hopelessness and today many are still in that position, suffering in silent dignity.
For the Government to consider singling out parliamentarians for special treatment, ignoring their civil service counterparts is, to put it mildly, illogical and immoral.
I am, etc.,
H.A. TOMLINSON
Government pensioner
Kingston 6
