Peter Espeut
WHEN I was in primary school I was taught by Miss Cunningham that a good leader never asks others to do what he isn't prepared to do himself. One of the proverbs we learnt was: 'What's good for the goose is good for the gander'. I guess these are versions of the 'Golden Rule'.
What is the justification for setting the Prime Minister's pension at 100 per cent of the sitting PM's full salary? Everybody else's pension is set at two-thirds of their highest salary when they were working, however many decades ago. Why protect the PM's salary against the ravages of inflation and not everyone else's? Why pay a retired (or defeated) PM the same salary as if he daily faced the pressures of the job when he does not? No other country in the world does this; why should we? What is the justification? I believe these amount to a scandal about as great as any we have had before.
But that is not all! This level of pension has been paid out to former PMs (Manley and Seaga) for many years without the necessary money bill having been passed by Parliament. The Minister of Finance has been breaking the law all this time! And with impunity! Another scandal!
How could Mr. Seaga have been in receipt of this illegal pension for so many years without raising an objection? Surely he knew! Why did he just take the money and keep his mouth shut? Where is the high ethical standard we expect from the Leader of the Opposition? Shame! Another scandal!
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
I have often said in this column that either politicians in this country (PNP and JLP) do not understand what 'conflict of interest' means, or they see nothing wrong with it (i.e., their moral sense is underdeveloped). Conflicts of interest are a form of corruption where persons in positions of public or private trust are allowed to take decisions or take part in decisions which lead to financial or other benefits to themselves or to their friends.
Whatever their other foibles, the U.S. Senate and Congress are very serious about this: Senate and Congress have the power to increase the salaries of Senators and Congressmen, but it cannot take effect until after the following election. Senators and Congressmen cannot increase their own salaries and benefits because that would be a conflict of interest.
The ethical sensibilities of our Jamaican politicians are much less developed. In 2002 our politicians voted themselves an immediate 100 per cent+ increase without a flutter of conscience. As I said before, either they do not understand what 'conflict of interest' means - what corruption is - or they see nothing wrong with it. The JLP MPs took their salary increases all the way to the bank without a murmur! On this both the PNP and JLP are united.
PUBLIC OUTCRYThere was a public outcry, especially since they had voted themselves further increases of 10-20 per cent each year afterwards: 2003, 2004 and 2005. In the meantime, the Government signed an MoU with public sector workers capping annual wage increases at much below that.
The politicians pleaded innocence! They argued that their increases were compulsory since their salaries were locked in to the salaries of civil servants, and so every time civil servants got an increase, politicians automatically got an increase too! So I and other commentators called for the salaries of politicians to be delinked from the salaries of civil servants - and our wishes were granted! The Prime Minister made that announcement, and set up a committee to decide the basis on which the salaries of politicians should be increased.
And now the committee has made its report, and the politicians will get their increases as soon as the MoU expires, and long before public sector workers get a chance to negotiate new salary packages! If their salaries were still linked to the civil
servants, to get their increase politicians would have to wait until civil servants finished negotiating. The disconnection has led to quicker increases for politicians. Parson christen himself fus! God help us!
Shame and scandal!
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development NGO.
