Gordon Robinson | Pay increase hypocrisy

It may be early but we are firmly in the throes of political tomfoolery often called “the silly season.”

There’s no more embarrassing example of this blight upon the land than the ongoing garbage dumped on us by JLP and PNP regarding politicians’ scandalous salary increases. So, in frustration, I posted the following comment on Twitter:

“It’s nonsensical and disingenuous for the Leader of the Opposition to call for a rollback of salary increases that all his MPs and Councillors accepted some with public gratitude others without demur AND which he has also accepted IN FULL then taken political credit (spelled V.O.T.E. B.U.Y.I.N.G.) for sharing the wealth like Robin Hood. Kmt”

That started a flood of responses led by one Dexroy Martin (he of journalists-can’t-wear-green-at-PNP-Headquarters fame) who posted:

“Your comment is disingenuous since you know that the Leader of Opposition does not decide his pay and has no option that allows him to refuse pay. The best he can do is what he has done.”

A Twitterite (The Old Ball and Chain instructed me to stop calling users of Twitter “Twits”) with the handle 2ndGenna_876 (@dnmunroe) replied:

“Rubbish…he can refuse it. When Bruce took a pay cut he asked the then opposition to do the same and they refused. Options are available to refuse the new pay.”

Prompted by a retort alleging illogic, 2ndGenna_876 persisted:

“Again, the one who occupies the Opposition Leader position has the option to refuse the increase….maybe you can shed insight into who determines pay for the political directorate.”

I had all good intentions to simply watch the exchanges from afar (for entertainment purposes only) until Dexroy contributed the following incoherent nonsense:

“The Minister of Finance determines this. The laws don’t allow for refusal of pay. Andrew had to go to cabinet and cause them to freeze his pay. He couldn’t do it by refusing it. Cabinet would have to do the same for Mark. They won’t.”

So I leapt back into the fray quietly fuming at what Dexroy’s crystal ball had predicted Cabinet “would have” to do. However, I restrained myself from carrying out Grammar Policing duties and kept to the issue:

“Are you SERIOUSLY telling me money can be forced into your pockets? THIS is why clear thinking Jamaicans are fed up with you all [politicians of all stripes]. If you want non-tribal Jamaicans to respect and believe you FIRST refuse to accept the increase THEN call for a rollback. Otherwise it’s just another cheap political trick”

Dexroy wasn’t Dunn. He wrote triumphantly “You are a lawyer, check it out. See what avenues were available to the Leader of the Opposition to cause the Government to not pay him an increase and place it in his account. He did what he had control over, upon receipt, donate it to charity.”

I didn’t need to “check it out.” Having researched the issue for a column published on June 4 headlined Where’s the Beef I already knew the answer to that piece of political deflection. I recommend Dexroy try treading that column (no spectacles required). I replied:

“Since you like law tell me which law supports your contention ‘Minister of Finance determines this’. There. Is. NONE. Also no law allows cabinet to pay itself increased or any salaries. It’s something politicians arrogated to themselves over decades and to which we’ve acquiesced through ignorance.

NO. MORE”

“Donate it to charity”? Did he? I recall him announcing he would “donate” 80 per cent (not all of “it”) of the increase to unnamed “charities” but his promise was restricted to “until anomalies are resolved”. So he took every dollar; followed by dispersing some of it as political largesse. Subsequently named recipients of his first monthly “donation” included at least one with obvious PNP connections.

NOBODY can force anyone to take money. By. Any. Method. How did PM refuse his increase (after public backlash)? I don’t recall him saying he “went back to cabinet.” He said he had given instructions to remove his name from the list. Even if he did return to cabinet that would only highlight the insane incongruity in a process that purports to place legal decision making regarding ministers’ pay exclusively in the hands of ministers.

Which PNP MP or Councillor so much as tried to “donate” a penny to “charities” or refuse the increase? Lookie here, there’s nothing wrong if you agree with and take an increase as was PNP’s public position in Parliament when the announcement was made. EVERYTHING is wrong with hypocrisy. Taking the salary increase then offering insincere “rollback” mouth cuts from which your pockets are safe because you can confidently predict you’ll be ignored is classic hypocrisy.

This entire politicians’ salary increases saga is riddled with political insincerity, trickery and disingenuousness from both political parties and their “political entrepreneurs” on social media. The entire affair starting with bully-riding tactics against lower level civil servants to immediately take-it-or-leave-it; then moving through the Nicodemus-style announcement of massive self-granted increases to politicians; and ending with the Opposition’s internally contradictory responses, smells to high heaven.

We like to compare Jamaica to Barbados especially as we hoodwink Jamaicans into accepting a Jamaicanised Monarchy as a Republic. But, in 2020, Mia Mottley addressed pandemic-induced economic stresses by introducing a “forced savings” policy for public servants to cut short term public spending. An impeccable source has confirmed that policy applied equally to Bajan cabinet Ministers/MPs as to other public servants.

As Mia said at the time “We are all family.”

The forced savings policy avoided job cuts by mandating involuntary savings whereby a portion of public servants’ salaries was invested in bonds redeemable (with interest) at a later date. The death of former Barbadian PM Erskine Sandiford makes this a poignant time to remember his brave 1991 policy of cutting ALL public service salaries - credited for saving the Barbados Dollar.

But, back on the rock, it’s still one rule for Medes; another for Persians. And we continue, like sheep caring only for our shepherds’ welfare while we suck salt through a wooden spoon, to blindly swallow blatant political subterfuge.

The sad reality is both PNP and JLP are overjoyed at the disgraceful, unfounded, unearned salary increases for politicians. PNP is happier than JLP because Comrades get to pocket the extra cash; blame JLP (“the devil made me do it”); then perpetrate a massive political hoax with insincere calls for rollback.

The sadder reality will only be exposed when serious campaign financing laws are passed. Only then will every Jamaican know what I know which is the cost to each candidate to campaign for MP. Take a guess how much? Is it enough to pay GG’s new salary for a year? Is it more? Ask yourself from whence cometh these funds.

If Party hopefuls are prepared to spend, borrow or beg multiple millions and mount street protests to become candidates for the Party then gazillions to campaign for MP, can MPs’ salary truly matter?

That a PM can facilely refuse the increase, then angrily threaten to give all his salary back while others donate all or portions of it to “charity”; what’s this “rollback” political squabble really all about? Obviously there’s benefit to becoming MP/Minister that exceeds the paltry pay. So this latest “rollback” sideshow by PNP is the epitome of shameful political gamesmanship masquerading as empathy for the people.

This embarrassing poppy show could have been and still can be avoided by simply inserting into the Constitution a provision giving Public Services Commission power to fix PMs/Presidents’, MPs’ and Councilors’ salaries. But that simplicity appears outside the mindset of narcissists disguised as political leaders and created by 60 years of Westminster governance.

We the People are watching and catching the rake. We see the results of this political farce that’s PNP’s “rollback” call. The latest Panderson Poll results (suddenly, “average” added to “good”) caused PNP to strut around like happy Cialis customers and JLP to go limp and miserable. In apparent panic at exposed electoral flaccidity, JLP blamed the Pollster for revealing the results of its own dysfunction including nationally nauseating, self-awarded salary increases and arrogant, masochistic abuse of its own Integrity Commission.

Non-tribal thinkers understand the Poll’s most important finding was JLP and PNP combined retain only minority support. That support is from diehards only so both continue to be entertaining irrelevancies. Diehard Labourites haven’t budged. Disgruntled Comrades, having spent too long in the wilderness, seem willing to hold their noses and vote for Rise DisUnited.

We’ll see what actually happens on election day when getting supporters to voting booths will be more determinative than any opinion poll.

Peace and Love.

- Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com