PRIME MINISTER Bruce Golding yesterday exercised an option to cut his pension to two-thirds of a Jamaican prime minister's salary while at the same time reducing pension to be paid to his successors.
Golding announced this decision while contributing to a debate on the Pensions (Prime Minister) Act. The bill was passed without amendment.The amendment to the legislation provides that future prime ministers be paid a pension equivalent to two-thirds of the annual salary of the prime minister.This reverses a decision made by the P.J. Patterson administration in 2005.However, the amendment to the legislation will not affect the pensions paid to former prime ministers.Debating the bill, Golding pointed out that Section 132 of the Jamaican Constitution prohibits the reduction of pension payments.In that regard, Golding said a provision was included in the bill, which gave him the choice to accept a pension equal to the salary being paid to the prime minister or two-thirds of that amount."I give the House today (yesterday) my solemn word that in exercising this option, I will exercise the option for the pension entitlement that existed prior to the amendment of 2005."
No moral basis
According to Golding, civil servants now receive two-thirds of their salary when they retire."We feel that there is no moral basis for us to go beyond that - the one thing that we must not do as persons in whom the people have vested their trust. It is wrong for us to seek to do for ourselves what we can't do for them," Golding said.Omar Davies, opposition spokesman on finance, described the amendment as a bad piece of legislation."There are too many basic flaws and deficiencies. I am concerned about the unique position in which it places the present prime minister where he is provided with an option which is denied to his successors."Davies also wants the current administration to set up an independent commission to determine compensation and conditions of service to parliamentarians. This recommendation was made by the Clarke Committee.
