Clayton Williams, Engineer
I am a huge fan of former Singapore PM Lee Quan Yu and his moral approach to nation-building, and with that said, I am totally in support of high salaries for politicians. I am certain many private sector executives are well paid when compared with our leaders and therefore have no issue with it except that I need to see a philosophy behind it, such as a zero tolerance to corruption in this class; even the slightest semblance of corruption should be pursued relentlessly. So this is a beginning in the right direction. Now to see if our leaders have any hint of morality left to lead us in the right direction.
Eric Bryan, Security Supervisor
In regards to the Member of Parliament’s salary being increased, I don’t have any issues with it because we were trained to accept these things. If you are attending a meeting, the officers and delegates will get a bottle of water, not the members who purchase it. It’s the same thing in church: we are willing to pay a preacher an exorbitant amount and buy such cars and planes to deliver what is supposed to be free. Every meeting we attend, the official gets water or energy drinks and not the members, so while we quickly see the major, we don’t see the minor, so we must pay attention to details.
I think it is gross disrespect and a slap in the face to public sector workers. It appears as though the government deliberately kept salaries for public sector workers low to enrich themselves from the public purse. Furthermore, the MPs need a performance-based increase. They have not done anything to deserve this level of increase. Crime is a major problem that the government has no answer for; roads are bad; public health is a mess; and the list goes on. They don’t deserve this increase.
Jean Hall-Mitchell, secretary
My views on the salary increase of the government officials are as follows:
It’s nauseating, disgusting and downright unconscionable. Members of the Jamaica Constabulary force, the Jamaica Fire Brigade, doctors, nurses and all public sector employees, but most importantly the teachers who are the backbone of our country have been treated very unfairly regarding wage negotiations and increases.
To think that a government who claims to value education would offer 20% increase to teachers and other public sector workers while awarding themselves almost 300%, goes to show that they are corrupted and only have their own self- interest.
The Prime Minister and his cabinet are a set of malignant narcissists who have no souls and cares nothing about the poor and less fortunate in this country. We the citizens of Jamaica need to rise up against the dictatorship attitude of this government, and when the next general election is called we have to make sure that this government is voted out of office. Any other alternative is better than the JLP government, they are only for the rich and elites of this country and the sooner we realize it, the better we will be.
