DEBATE ON SRC REPORT

CCNTV6

Parliamentarians.. will soon get to debate.. whether to accept the salary increases.. recommended by the Salaries Review Commission. This from the Leader of Government Business -Camille Robinson-Regis.. who explained today.. that the government has not taken a decision yet.. on the SRC's report. Meanwhile the opposition is not saying what it plans to do.  Juhel Browne spoke to both sides today.

Transcript

00:00In response to questions from TV6 News, Leader of the House of Representatives, Camille Robinson-Regis,

00:07who is also the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, said the latest report of the

00:12Salaries Review Commission, which recommends salary increases for the President, the Prime

00:16Minister, the Chief Justice, the Opposition Leader, Cabinet members and other members

00:21of Parliament and other key office holders, will be debated in the House of Representatives

00:26at the earliest opportunity.

00:28This is for members of Parliament.

00:31So it's not something that is anomalous or unusual.

00:36But when the report first came out, there were some anomalies, and the Minister of Finance

00:43pointed those out, and asked the SRC to look at the report again, which they did.

00:50And they've brought an amended report to the Parliament.

00:58As soon as it's practicable, we will debate the report, and then it will be put into effect.

01:06In light of that statement, TV6 News sought clarification from Minister Robinson-Regis.

01:11Well, I will not anticipate the debate, because it still has to be debated.

01:18But it's debated based on a motion brought by the government.

01:23The motion is on the Order Paper also, in the name of the Minister of Finance, and the

01:28Minister of Finance will lead that debate as soon as the Parliamentary agenda allows

01:34for that debate to take place.

01:35But it is on the Order Paper.

01:39Chief Whip David Lee gave TV6 News an initial response on behalf of the Opposition.

01:45I'm asking, is it the timing of this report being laid, is it to change our conversation

01:53in the country away from the issues that seem to have been perversing the lands in the last

02:03few weeks, one being the internal issues with the PNM, and also the whole forex situation

02:11that is going on, or the crisis of the forex situation.

02:15The Leader of the House responded directly to the Chief Whip.

02:18Would he have wanted us to wait until the issues that are plaguing the UNC have been

02:28resolved?

02:29We returned it as soon as we got it, and that is the norm, because the report is brought

02:37to the Parliament and it is debated, and that is a usual occurrence.

02:44Among the recommendations in the SRC's 120th report, which was laid in the House of Representatives

02:50on Friday, are an increase in the salary of the Prime Minister to $80,000 per month, with

02:55effect from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2023, and a further increase to $87,847 per

03:04month, with effect from October 1, 2023.

03:08So when you look at the increase of the Prime Minister and the percentage increase, and

03:13it's over 50% or something like that, it's more than this 4% that this government has

03:21offered the majority of unions and the public servants, and we are saying that is not good

03:28enough.

03:29So we have to look at everything in a holistic way and not isolate or pigeon what we see

03:35from this SRC report.

03:38But as again I said, we have to study it in a very comprehensive way.

03:42The Leader of the House said there are state office holders who are not members of the

03:45Cabinet, the Parliament or the Judiciary who are also identified for salary increases by

03:50the SRC.

03:51Several members of the public service are covered in this report.

03:56The Leader of the House pointed out that the SRC has also recommended an increase in

04:00the salary of the opposition leader to $47,500 per month, with effect from October 1, 2020

04:07to September 30, 2023, and a further increase to $52,129 a month, with effect from October

04:151, 2023.

04:16And you would also recognize that this report stems from 2014.

04:23It is left to be seen what happens when the SRC's latest report is debated in the Parliament

04:29whenever that debate takes place.

04:32Jule Brown, TV6 News.

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