RJRGLEANER-commissioned Don Anderson poll | Not a dollar more for MPs - Majority of Jamaicans oppose pay increase for parliamentarians

An overwhelming majority of Jamaicans are opposed to parliamentarians receiving a pay increase, the latest RJRGLEANER-commissioned Don Anderson poll has shown.

Eighty per cent of the 1,038 respondents polled responded negatively to the question, ‘Should parliamentarians be paid more?’

Only 12 per cent believe parliamentarians are to be paid more, while four per cent said they did not know. Three per cent were unsure.

A number of parliamentarians have been lobbying for increased salaries in recent times.

St Catherine North West Member of Parliament Robert Pickersgill in January led the charge, advocacy that was met with enthusiasm by parliamentarians on both sides of the aisle.

“The time has come, in my opinion, Mr Speaker, for us to, as I said, take the bull by the horns and settle these long-outstanding issues regarding emoluments, pensions, and health benefits for parliamentarians,” the seven-time MP said in Parliament on January 14.

The survey, conducted between February 8 and 18, also unearthed that the majority of Jamaicans believe that candidates running for seats in the Lower House should declare their nationality.

Ninety per cent were in the affirmative while seven per cent said no. One per cent said they did not know while another one per cent were unsure.

In 2017, former Prime Minister Bruce Golding had weighed in on the controversy involving Dr Shane Alexis, the People’s National Party’s St Mary South East candidate, saying that he believed all MPs should be Jamaican citizens.

Before his Jamaican naturalisation, Alexis was a citizen of Canada and Grenada.

Although Alexis did not hold Jamaican citizenship, as a Commonwealth citizen, he is eligible to sit in the Parliament after having resided here for at least one year.

Golding said that he did not have a problem with dual citizens serving in Parliament but believed that such persons should have Jamaican citizenship.

While the law places no restrictions on the citizenship of those who become nominated to run, the Representation of the People Act bars persons who hold dual citizenship in non-Commonwealth countries from sitting in the House of Representatives.

After the 2007 general election, dual citizenship was the subject of intense debate after the Opposition People’s National Party challenged the legitimacy of several Jamaica Labour Party MPs because they were citizens of non-Commonwealth states. That resulted in court-ordered by-elections that cost taxpayers more than $100 million.

Daryl Vaz, Gregory Mair, Shahine Robinson, Michael Stern, and Everald Warmington were forced to face the electorate in the midterm.