Several protesters gathered at National Heroes Circle in Kingston on Wednesday (May 24) afternoon to express their dissatisfaction with the newly proposed salary increase for parliamentarians.

Among those protesting were members of the general public and also members of the Advocates Network who called for the government to ‘roll back’ the recently announced salary increase for members of the public directorate.

Professor Rosalea Hamilton, Co-Chair of the Advocates Network in an interview with Our Today said that the government should ‘roll back’ the current salary increase to at least 20 per cent.

“Nobody is arguing that they should not get an increase, everybody including members of parliament has said the increases are too high. So if that’s the case we need to go back to satisfy the Jamaican people that they are hearing our voice,” she said.

In response to Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s recent announcement to implement several accountability measures for the political directorate, Hamilton called on the Prime Minister to move swiftly in tabling these accountability measures.

“We want to see them, we want to see the evaluations. We think that it is in good faith. In the same spirit that he felt that there was this higher moral duty to not accept his salary. That same principle should guide the roll back,” she added.

Hamilton further noted that the Prime Minister’s decision to reject his salary increase is ‘not enough’.

“I think he should use his moral leadership to guide other members of the parliament to do the same and I think if he did that then that moral leadership that he talks about would be on display for all of us to see. In that context, we can agree on what percentage the Members of Parliament should get,” Hamilton said.

One protestor who gave his name as Micheal Lindo, said that he hoped that today’s protest would result in a wave of actions from the government.

“I hope that this protest will get some traction. I am not actually out here for myself. Its actually for my kids and grandkids, because I know that this decision that they have made is going to impact them so severely. So I am not worried about me, I am worried about my kids and grandkids,” Lindo shared.

This public outcry follows a recent announcement by Minister of Finance, Dr Nigel Clarke that members of the political directorate will receive a salary increase under the public-sector-compensation structure valued at $1.7 billion.

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