The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE government should first raise the minimum wage to help cash-strapped Bahamians before considering any salary increases for members of Parliament, Free National Movement Chairman Darron Cash said yesterday.

Cash’s comments to The Tribune add to the backlash over a recommendation from a House of Assembly select committee that the salaries of members of Parliament be reviewed by an independent committee. The group noted that MPs have not seen a salary increase since 1988.

“Even with today’s minimum wage, there are thousands of Bahamians who are out of work who would welcome any opportunity to find gainful employment,” Mr Cash said. “The unfortunate reality is that the Christie administration began its work, on day one, with far little consideration to the issue of finding jobs for people, and to the contrary on day one, they started letting people go.

“In fact during the campaign they bad-mouthed the effort of the previous government’s attempt to provide relief to people through BEC and other kinds of concessions, certainly the 52-week job programme which we expanded because of the need. The PLP administration came and decided that that wasn’t working and obviously turned their backs on those people. They had absolutely no concern about letting them go while at the same time, patting the employment rolls with their friends and families, and lovers.”

Mr Cash said the committee’s recommendations were consistent with the “me first” agenda of the government. However, three members of the opposition were a part of that committee.

Last week Central Grand Bahama MP Neko Grant, who sat on the committee, defended the request for the salaries of MPs to be reviewed.

In addition to the review of MPs’ salaries, the committee also recommended that a new Parliament be built before 2017.

Grant and St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman, who also sat on the committee, later said the construction of a new Parliament is not feasible in this term although it was agreed that the current Parliamentary complex was greatly inadequate.

Mr Cash agreed that the idea of a new Parliament should be revisited.

“There’s no question that from now to perhaps the next five years, the idea of increasing Parliamentary perks ought to be off the table,” Mr Cash said. “And this isn’t just a political consideration because by his own acknowledgement, (Prime Minister Perry) Christie and the minister of national security have indicated, by their willingness to direct Urban Renewal resources throughout their two constituencies, that there are great needs that have to be met.

“And even outside of those communities, if you move into the middle and upper middle-class homes, there are thousands of Bahamians who are having an amazingly hard time meeting basic needs. Every conceivable resource that we could find ought to be directed and finding relief for those people and every resource connected to agencies of government such as the National Insurance Board, ought to be directed at finding relief for people.

“That means in Social Services, we ought to be directing more resources,” Mr Cash said. He added that the government should focus on wiping “every tear out of every eye” instead of “putting more money in their own pockets”.