Government defends Former president’s pension benefits

Georgetown : The issue of the pension package for formers presidents has again resurfaced in the public domain after Minister of Finance; Dr. Ashni Singh was made to provide detailed information to the Parliament on the sums made available to former president Bharrat Jagdeo which he is duly entitled to under the Former Presidents (Benefits and Other Facilities) Act of 2009.

In 2009, the Government amended this Act to index the salary of the former president to that of the current president. In Guyana, the constitution guarantees a past president a pension which is equivalent of seven-eighths of the current President’s salary.  

The Government issued a statement “this status quo is not unique or exclusive to any one president nor was it singularly tailored to benefit a particular individual; but rather, this system is applicable to all constitutional office holders.”

 The Former President’s (Benefits and Other Facilities) Act of 2009 makes provisions such as: medical facilities, guards, drivers, gardeners, drivers, motor vehicles, and duty-free concessions. These benefits were available to and enjoyed by Former Presidents Arthur Chung, Desmond Hoyte, and Janet Jagan.

Similar pension packages were approved for presidential widows, namely Doreen Chung, Viola Burnham and Janet Jagan. The context of the seven-eighths pension scheme is a facility from which all former Members of Parliament, senior government officials and even the former opposition leader benefitted.

In 2009, the President Hoyte Pension Bill 2009 which was tabled by the Government was passed unanimously in the House paving the way for the former president’s widow, the now deceased Joyce Hoyte, to be paid a survivor’s pension in keeping with the status of the wife of a former President.

That Bill is the result of discussions between former president Jagdeo and former Opposition Leader, Robert. At the time when it was debated, Opposition Parliamentarians, many of whom are today criticising the President’s pension package, were of the view that the President Hoyte Pension Bill would ensure the maintenance of the sanctity and dignity of the Office of President.

Importantly, when the Former President’s (Benefits and Other Facilities) Act of 2009 was passed, another was passed almost simultaneously to guarantee the Leader of the Opposition a similar regime of benefits. That Bill sought to provide for certain facilities and services to the Leader of the Opposition at the expense of the State.

These services include: rent free, furnished office accommodation, medical attention including reimbursement of medical expenses incurred by the Opposition Leader and dependent members of his family, full-time security service at his official place of residence, services of a research and clerical assistants, a secretary, a chauffeur, a personal security office.