Dear Editor,
What is our priority as a nation? How can the Government continue to tell public sector workers to "hold strain" and endure years of wage freeze when it all seems to be going to waste on not only chartered flights for deportation but also on loquacious ministers.
A recent news report highlighted the phone bills of some government ministers and the most outstanding was that of the junior minister in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, who amassed a bill in excess of one million dollars between the period August 2013 and July 2014; $410,000, or almost 50 per cent, of that bill was accumulated in one month. Indeed, this junior minister is an expensive talker to the point of exceeding the monthly salary of many top executives in both the private and public sector. His annual bill exceeds the annual gross salary of many in the private sector that offers essential services such as the police, nurse, military, teacher and the firefighter.
But, should our vitriol, disgust and cry of shame be directed at the junior minister? The only qualms I have with him is the absence of conscience, for not exercising any restraint in the use of the government telephone that was assigned to him, thereby leading to its abuse.
Then again, can you blame him? Whoever created the policy that governs the use of phones by government ministers is also unconscionable. In an era when the Government should be exhibiting tight fiscal discipline, under a rigid IMF programme, I am befuddled as to how phone usage by ministers is not among the targeted expenditures to be cut. We see critical ministries such as education, health and national security operating on a shoestring budget and the contemplation of further cuts due to the inability to meet revenue targets.
Despite this, there is nothing in place that enforces a limit on how much is allocated for government ministers to talk. What should obtain is that, where the government is responsible for covering the cost of a minister's phone usage, there should be a monthly limit.
Basil Harriott
New Harbour Village II
harriott_200@hotmail.com
Talking at the people's expense
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What is our priority as a nation? How can the Government continue to tell public sector workers to "hold strain" and endure years of wage freeze when it all seems to be going to waste on not only chartered flights for deportation but also on loquacious ministers.
A recent news report highlighted the phone bills of some government ministers and the most outstanding was that of the junior minister in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, who amassed a bill in excess of one million dollars between the period August 2013 and July 2014; $410,000, or almost 50 per cent, of that bill was accumulated in one month. Indeed, this junior minister is an expensive talker to the point of exceeding the monthly salary of many top executives in both the private and public sector. His annual bill exceeds the annual gross salary of many in the private sector that offers essential services such as the police, nurse, military, teacher and the firefighter.
But, should our vitriol, disgust and cry of shame be directed at the junior minister? The only qualms I have with him is the absence of conscience, for not exercising any restraint in the use of the government telephone that was assigned to him, thereby leading to its abuse.
Then again, can you blame him? Whoever created the policy that governs the use of phones by government ministers is also unconscionable. In an era when the Government should be exhibiting tight fiscal discipline, under a rigid IMF programme, I am befuddled as to how phone usage by ministers is not among the targeted expenditures to be cut. We see critical ministries such as education, health and national security operating on a shoestring budget and the contemplation of further cuts due to the inability to meet revenue targets.
Despite this, there is nothing in place that enforces a limit on how much is allocated for government ministers to talk. What should obtain is that, where the government is responsible for covering the cost of a minister's phone usage, there should be a monthly limit.
Basil Harriott
New Harbour Village II
harriott_200@hotmail.com
Talking at the people's expense
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