Pay rises and other stuff

THE EDITOR: Shortly before the last Parliament was prorogued, Prime Minster Rowley mentioned that one of the unresolved items that would be at the top of the agenda in the new Parliament was the issue of pay rises for government officials.

No one said anything.

Now that the revised, proposed increases, from the Salaries Review Commission, have been revealed, the trade union leaders are frothing at the mouth. It good "fuh" them.

I will not go into the staggering pay increases of over 40 per cent and more for senior government officials and the President.

How many citizens lost their jobs during the covid19 pandemic because of government policies?

How many citizens had their pay cut and not restored during the covid19 pandemic because of government policies?

Now these citizens have to watch as the same government handsomely rewards itself.

The government and opposition are showing that performance in the public sector is a non-issue for significant pay rises.

The prime minister's back pay would be $1,100,000. The president's back pay would be $567,100.

The opposition will keep quiet because they will benefit significantly as well. The opposition leader's back pay would be $939,000.

Mark my words, those increases would quickly pass in Parliament.

Governing any country is very challenging. However, when people choose to enter public service they must learn to live with what taxpayers pay them. This has never been the case in TT, because politicians are self-serving.

To see how the government is bereft of ideas, we need look no further than Minister in the Ministry of National Security Keith Scotland. He told a symposium last week that it may be time for the government to implement legislation to restrict those under the age of 16 years from having access to social media. He read that Australia is planning to do it this month.

Scotland is a "follow fashion" kind of politician. No original thought whatsoever. Maybe he should read Gordon Laughlin and Elias Galy's letters to the editor. He would get some very good ideas.

I had not yet read the newspapers on Thursday when I left home around 11.30 am. I was heading east, along the Eastern Main Road in the vicinity of Champs Fleurs, when I encountered some traffic. I saw a backhoe digging up the road, where a leak was running for months.

Only when I reached home did I realise that the media had kindly printed my letter about the leak. Thank you.

Why did it have to take a letter to the editor, from a citizen, for WASA to fix what was in plain sight? Maybe it was waiting for someone to give it the lamp pole number closest to the leak. This speaks to a serious dysfunction of systems and processes.

Hopefully WASA's new incoming CEO, at a basic salary of $1,200,000 per year, plus perks, would be able to implement innovative systems. Yeah right!

LINUS F DIDIER

Mt Hope