Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is not in sup­port of the pro­posed salary in­crease for the Prime Min­is­ter, the Pres­i­dent, and her­self “at this time.” She, how­ev­er, said the 120th Salaries Re­view Com­mis­sion re­port’s pro­posed salary hike should be giv­en to judges and pub­lic ser­vants. Per­sad-Bisses­sar was speak­ing at the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress’ crim­i­nal jus­tice re­form con­sul­ta­tion at Barataria on Mon­day.

The Op­po­si­tion Leader not­ed there has been a “lot of noise” about the SRC’s re­port in the pub­lic do­main “as it gives to the Prime Min­is­ter his high­est-ever raise if he ac­cepts it.”

The SRC’s rec­om­men­da­tions in­clude rais­ing Dr Kei­th Row­ley’s salary from $59,680 to $87,847 over three years, while Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s pay would in­crease from $29,590 to $52,159.

“This is the first time in the his­to­ry of a coun­try that the Prime min­is­ter—if he ac­cepts it—will be paid more than the Pres­i­dent. So I’m watch­ing and wait­ing to see what hap­pens. But I don’t be­lieve the Prime Min­is­ter should get an in­crease at this time. I don’t be­lieve the Pres­i­dent should get an in­crease at this time.

“I don’t be­lieve that Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, the Op­po­si­tion Leader, should get an in­crease at this time—no, no! Now isn’t the time when you’re of­fer­ing peo­ple one per cent, two per cent, four per cent—it’s ob­scene! It’s dis­re­spect­ful at this time.

She added, how­ev­er, “the judges should be giv­en the in­creas­es in the re­port. The pub­lic ser­vants should be giv­en the in­creas­es in it. They’re hard-work­ing peo­ple, and if this is what has been as­sessed ... But there’s some­thing ob­scene for politi­cians to have the pow­er to de­cide on their own salary in­creas­es.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar, who said the SRC re­port has to come to the Par­lia­ment, added, “The Prime Min­is­ter has the ma­jor­i­ty with his MPs. Does he say yes?”

She said since the pre­vi­ous SRC re­port arose, “I’ve been say­ing the politi­cians shouldn’t be giv­en in­creas­es at this time. But I ful­ly agree judges should be giv­en the in­creas­es and the pub­lic ser­vants. I call on the Prime Min­is­ter to tell us his view on this re­port.” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the UNC filed a ques­tion for him to an­swer in Par­lia­ment, but it was re­ject­ed.

“But every­body want to know what Kam­la has to say. Well, Kam­la says no to the Prime Min­is­ter, no to the Pres­i­dent, and no to Kam­la. Not at this time. We sup­port judges get­ting high­er salaries; they’re over­worked and un­der­paid.”

She al­so hoped the re­port had “some­thing” for the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions di­vi­sion.

Op­po­si­tion Leader to ben­e­fit–Robin­son-Reg­is

Yes­ter­day, PNM MP Camille Robin­son-Reg­is, the Min­is­ter of Hous­ing and Ur­ban De­vel­op­ment, told Guardian Me­dia that re­gard­less of what Per­sad-Bisses­sar said, she would still ben­e­fit if the re­port be­comes a re­al­i­ty.

Speak­ing at the open­ing of the La Hor­quet­ta Pub­lic Li­brary, she said, “The SRC has done its work, and we have laid it in the Par­lia­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go. Clear­ly, if the re­sults of the work that the SRC has done are made a re­al­i­ty, no mat­ter if Kam­la Per­sad says she doesn’t want the wage in­crease, she will get the wage in­crease.

“So when the SRC did its work in 2014 and they took the Gov­ern­ment of the time, which was a UNC gov­ern­ment, they al­so laid it, and they did what the SRC asked to do, but we have laid the re­port, and we’ll wait and see what hap­pens.” Robin­son-Reg­is added, “I don’t have any com­ments on what she has said, and I don’t think it should be politi­cised be­cause it’s not just politi­cians whose salaries are ad­just­ed; it is a large num­ber of peo­ple in the pub­lic ser­vice.”