Robert Hart, Assistant News Editor
Leader of the Opposition, Bruce Golding, speaks at Parliament in this April 21 file photo. Mr. Golding, in yesterday's sitting of the House, lambasted the proposed increase in prime ministerial pensions. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE GOVERNMENT yesterday eked out a seven-vote win to pass a controversial bill aimed at increasing the pension benefits to former Prime Ministers.
Following the Opposition's refusal to support elements of the legislation, it was passed by a vote of 28 to 21 in the House of Representatives.
Opposition Leader Bruce Golding slammed a proposal to increase a retired Prime Minister's pension from 66 per cent of any current Prime Minister's salary. The increase would see the pension raised to 100 per cent of a current Prime Minister's salary, as well as provide for benefits to the widows of former Prime Ministers.
"In discharging our obligations to persons who have retired, we must be careful not to go overboard," Mr. Golding said in his contribution to the debate.
BETRAYING PUBLIC
"(We must consider) whether we who seek public trust, and in whom public trust has been vested, can afford to do for ourselves what we are not capable of doing for the persons who vested that trust in us," he said in reference to public sector workers who receive far inferior pensions and benefits.
Mr. Golding also said it was an embarrassment to the beneficiaries of the Prime Minister's pension that the legislation had only just been brought to the House, despite the adjusted payments being made since a Cabinet decision in 1992.
Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance and Planning, had admitted while opening the debate that the legislation was seeking to legitimise an ongoing practice. He said Government has been paying out the increased pensions and benefits to retired Prime Ministers, their widows and children for the past 13 years.
"Based on the Cabinet decision, we have been paying these allowances consistent with the amendment to which we are seeking ratification in this House," Dr. Davies said. He added that late former Prime Ministers Michael Manley and Hugh Shearer were paid on that basis, while Edward Seaga currently is being paid the adjusted rate.
He added that Lady Bustamante, the widow of former Prime Minister Sir Alexander Bustamante, was being paid the adjusted benefits, as well as on the basis of being the widow of a National Hero.
FOREIGN COMPARISON
Mr. Golding, pointing to the pension arrangements for heads of state in Canada, the United States and England, noted that none of those retirees received anywhere near 100 per cent of what the current Government head was earning.
He said a former U.S. President received pension equivalent to a Cabinet Secretary's salary of about US$161,000, versus the US$400,000 salary of the current president. A former U.K. Prime Minister receives about 71 per cent of the current leader's salary as pension benefit.
He also called for the Government to bring a bill to validate the payments made since 1992, promising it would receive Opposition support.
Dr. Davies, who had argued that the adjusted pension was to bring former Prime Ministers more in line with former Governors-General, said he was disappointed in the Opposition's response to the legislation.
