Wednesday June 12, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 11
AFC chides ‘super Works on Soesdyke/Linden Highway imminent salary syndrome’ for GuySuCo big wigs “You cannot throw bacon for the boys and bones to the workers,” was the response of Alliance for Change (AFC) Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo, at the revelation that Chairman of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Raj Singh will be paid some $2.2M per month. Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, this past week disclosed that GuySuCo will be paying its top man, no more than £7,076 (G$2.2M) monthly. The AFC Vice Chairman during an interview with this publication yesterday rejected the notion and reminded that the company is currently, heavily dependent on government subsidy, but yet the “Donald Ramotar administration continues with its fat cat syndrome rewarding political operatives such as Raj Singh.” Nagamootoo said that the AFC is in no way opposed to appropriate remuneration for competent professionals and would also want to see expert investigations into the financial affairs of what he called a ‘failed state-owned corporation.’ According to Nagamootoo, just as it was unconscionable to be paying the company’s former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Errol Hanoman such an amount, it is equally reprehensible for the company to be paying its current Chairman a similar amount, when many times it cannot pay its workers. “We are of the view that this is a cash-strapped entity on its knees, living out of a beggar’s bowl held out to the taxpayers for bailouts in two consecutive years,” Nagamootoo said. He added that the position the company finds itself in is a poor example of “frugality and austerity” on the part of the administration. The AFC Vice Chairman said that all right-thinking Guyanese should come out in condemnation of the continued “super salary syndrome.” He said that this is even worse when placed in the context that Government had refused to pay a 10 per cent across the board increase to workers. “The fat cat syndrome in which the People’s Progressive Party Civic caught itself in order to butter its friends should be condemned.” Nagamootoo stressed that the AFC is not against paying appropriate salaries to people
Under the Ministry of Public Works, bids were opened for the repair of sections of Soesdyke/Linden Highway. The bids were opened yesterday by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Ministry of Finance, Main Street. The Soesdyke/Linden Highway has over the years been deteriorating, and is a critical access road leading to the mining town of Linden, a gateway to the hinterland. Under the Ministry of Public Works’ ‘Road Improvement and Rehabilitation Programme’, this year some $735M has been allocated. The programme is part of a $5.9B project financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Government which started in 2009.
Bids were also opened for the rehabilitation of Oranapai Towers, Wights Lane, Kingston.
AFC Vice Chairman Moses Nagamootoo with specialized skills but rather, is against “rewards for political operatives like Raj Singh at the head of GuySuCo.” Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, while addressing a media briefing on Monday at his party’s Headquarters, Freedom House, had said that Singh, who currently serves as Acting Chairman of GuySuCo’s Board of Directors, is “eminently qualified” to head the cashstrapped entity. The Finance Minister told media operatives that Singh would be paid no more than the equivalent of the most recent substantive Chief Executive Officer of the Company. That position was held by Errol Hanoman, who resigned from the post in 2010. His contract offered by the sugar company stated, “Your annual remuneration while working in Guyana (including salary and pension allowance) will be paid by GuySuCo in Sterling. “Your initial salary (net of income tax and other statutory deductions payable in Guyana) will be at a rate of £74,904 per annum, payable (continued on page 26)
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) received bids for the provision of security services in 2013.The bids were divided into ten lots.
Still in the security sector, the National Communications Network (NCN) received bids for the provision of security services.
The National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), under the Ministry of Agriculture, opened bids for the construction of a building at Aishalton and one at Annai in Region nine.