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  • 1 year ago


The Prime Minister expressed no fear today in announcing that he accepted the latest recommendations of Salaries Review Commission, after a 13 year wait.

And he had a lot to say about the matter during today's post Cabinet news conference.

Juhel Browne reports.





Transcript
00:00The only thing I'm afraid of is being truthfully accused of keeping government money.
00:06I have no fear of accepting the recommendations of the SRC if that is going to be my legacy.
00:11Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley as he addressed the public debate about the latest Salary Review Commission report
00:17which has recommended salary increases for some of the nation's highest office holders. Among the recommendations in the
00:25120th report, which was laid in the House of Representatives, are an increase in the salary of the Prime Minister to a maximum of
00:33$87,000 per month with effect from October 1st
00:372023. To clarify the public debate, I just made it very clear. The government accepts the recommendation to implement it.
00:44It will require a statement from the Minister of Finance and
00:47the politics will start or it will end.
00:50We are not running from it to start it or to run from it from those who start it.
00:55The offices of state recommended for salary increases by the SRC
00:59also include the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice, and members of Cabinet.
01:04It is not only the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. It is the entire
01:09management structure of the country.
01:12And
01:13therefore to say that the country can't afford
01:17to reasonably compensate its management structure
01:22is to make an admission that I don't want to make because I don't think that's a reasonable conclusion and
01:30therefore I will accept the work of the Commission. The Prime Minister also pointed out that the SRC has
01:37recommended salary increases for all members of Parliament, including the opposition leader, to a maximum of
01:45$52,129 a month with effect from
01:482023. And interestingly enough the recommendations of the Commission
01:53gave more
01:56acknowledgement to the Office of Opposition and that is why it has raised its
02:04emolument from where? 29 to 54?
02:08Right, giving it the same
02:11responsibility level as a Cabinet Minister.
02:13So if you stay home whole week and then come out and do nothing, you're drunk whole week,
02:17you still get the same as a Minister who's working for the week.
02:19TV6 News posed the question to the Prime Minister about his recent statement in which he made a request to the population to hold the
02:26fort where managing finances are concerned over the next two years and referenced an expected increase in natural gas supply
02:33including from Venezuela. When I said to the population
02:37in discussing our
02:40revenue situation going forward as a country, I was not discussing SRC report.
02:49I was discussing the country's revenue overall situation going forward.
02:54The Prime Minister said there is a category of government office holders for whom the SRC's
03:00recommendations are to be returned to the Commission for review as had occurred with its previous
03:05recommendations for office holders in the judiciary.
03:08Jules Brown, TV6 News.
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