Guyana’s PPP Administration Run By Individuals

Bringing Guyana Into the 21st Century

servant is providing a subsidized service to the government. That is, by underpaying the public servant by $100,000/month, or $1.2 million/annum, the government and general public are receiving a subsidized service.

When public servants have to beg, borrow, get a second job at the expense of their children’s welfare, live in mommy’s and daddy’s home way past adult age, put up with other awkward domestic circumstances, etc., they are subsidizing government’s services to businesses and the wider population. My father as a headmaster and education officer subsidized services to the population. All teachers and the rest of the public servants, from the nurses to our policemen and women whom we love to publicly castigate for taking bribes, are subsidizing government services to the population. It is not that our police are born scamps or crooked cops, it’s just that taking a bribe or engaging in other corrupt practices are just another means of providing the basic necessities for their families and homes. I don’t condone bribery, but I am almost certain that if every police officer had a comfortable salary, the issue of bribery and corruption would very probably be scaled back to non-existence. Public servants should not have to beg for a lunch, ask for a drop, pay short fare on the bus, engage in improper sexual relations for extra money, and whatever else you may care to add to the list. They are valuable and important, and deserving of the acceptable standard of living of the next Joe. The fact is, public servants need a dramatic increase in wages and salaries to correct the injustice of their daily existence. There has been talk in the past of not providing significant increases in wages to public servants for fear of causing inflation. The solution is simple: Advise the general public, particularly businesses, of any significant salary increase at least six months in advance to allow them to adjust their inventories, and spread the increase over an extended period if necessary, say 12 to 24 months, while taking care to adjust monetary policy appropriately. ++

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