‘PNP MPs say they need their big salaries regardless of hardships many Jamaicans are feeling’ —PM Holness
Al Edwards / Our Today
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It was felt that public sector workers, and, in particular, parliamentarians, have been underpaid for years and that wrongs should be put right.
When he was finance minister, Dr Nigel Clarke addressed the matter, seeing to it that parliamentarians got a bumper pay rise which brought them more in line with private sector executives.
Last week, in his contribution to the 2026 Budget Debate in Gordon House, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that members of the Opposition were hypocrites and speaking out of both sides of their mouths when it came to their salaries and emoluments.
Holness said that the Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding took up his $J27 million per year salary. The Opposition Spokesperson on Finance Julian Robinson wrote that his party had no problem with the handsome pay increase.
The prime minister went on to inform the nation that the PNP general secretary Dr Dayton Campbell said MPs taking up these huge salary increases were unconscionable, particularly at a time when many Jamaicans were coming under financial pressure. In fact, he expressed this in a formal letter to the Government.
But did this not go down well with members of his party, where some wrote to the government in turn besieging it to pay the elevated salaries as it was needed and to ensure the payments were made retroactively.
“The Comrades got exposed for what they truly are by Holness. With Jamaica mash up by a Category 5 Hurricane, gas prices going through the world and the Arab man at war, none of them want to return a portion of their salary to help their fellow Jamaicans. You know why? They want to live the high life like Lisa Hanna. They want Benz and BMW. They want to eat lunch at the Terra Nova. They want to buy Versace in Aventura Mall. They want to live in Cherry Gardens and send their children to AISK. All the talk about Michael Manley, Castro and Cuban doctors is a farce. They are avaricious, and all want to be tapanaris. They don’t care about ordinary Jamaicans. I’m glad the prime minister called them out. Jamaicans must make sure they sit there for many, many years to come,” said Jon-Jon Lindo of Pimento Hill, St. Mary.
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