Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley says he is prepared to accept the recommendation from the Salaries Review Commission (SRC) which effectively gives salary increases to Government and Opposition members among others.
Speaking at Thursday’s Post Cabinet Media Briefing, Dr. Rowley said he will not be shying away from accepting the recommendations and is prepared to take it on, even as a political issue.
“I believe that my country, Trinidad and Tobago, could pay a decent emolument to its management structure to continue managing the country. I am not unaware of the view in some quarter that the Government and its appendages are a waste of time and nobody’s worth anything. I don’t subscribe to that.”
Dr. Rowley said he’s not going to stop the process just because the country is on the verge of an election.
“Because what you’re saying is that an assignment that goes back for a 13-year exercise has now ended, unfortunately, on the verge of an election, and therefore you should be more concerned about the election than the process. And, of course, you will stretch it to say that the Prime Minister did say nobody could get anything until 2027. I didn’t say that. One of the first things I did as Prime Minister was to guide the Cabinet to pay public servants a 6.5 billion dollar back pay issue.”
The Prime Minister added that he’s seen correspondence from members of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) claiming that they are being unfairly treatment by the SRC.
“I have asked the Attorney General to raise with the President the concerns of this group of officers who have made a claim of their treatment by the SRC, and the President is being asked to refer that singular matter to the SRC for further review.”
He also criticised the Opposition Leader for attempting to mislead the population that the salary review would not affect her.
“Interestingly enough, the recommendations of the Commission gave more acknowledgement to the office of Opposition, and that is why it has raised its emolument from where 29 to 54? Giving it the same responsibility level as a Cabinet Minister. So if you stay home whole week and then come out and do nothing, you drunk whole week, you still get the same as a Minister working for the week.”
For the SRC recommendations to be implemented, Dr. Rowley said all that is needed is a circular from the Minister of Finance.