Dear Editor,
“I would rather eat salt and rice” is a phrase from my formative years that speaks to personal integrity; it is a core value of many Guyanese who refuse to give into the daily temptations. Head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr Vincent Adams is attributed to calling for better salaries for his employees with the rationale “concerns from local and international transparency advocates that the poor salaries of EPA officers make them more susceptible to the influence of corrupt oil companies,” a section of the media on Jan 6, 2019, quoted him as saying. Dr Adams has made an egregious error with this call and I cannot see how he can continue to function in his present capacity with this or any other state agency.
The EPA Head may feel he is in good company with this call as this was the exact rationale advanced by Presidency Minister Joseph Harmon to justify the 50 per cent increase in salaries for APNU/AFC Ministers shortly after entering office in 2015, but Dr Adams should have made a closer examination of the national response to the ‘salary increase’ before he replicated that titanic error.
The salary increases have never led to decline in corruption and has in no small way led to the current willingness of the Granger Administration to defy the Constitution and refuse to signal acceptance of the successful No-Confidence Motion, for them, the perks now outweigh the satisfaction of service.
Editor, I welcome any call for improved salaries and benefits for workers and I fully support expansion of the EPA and recognise the need to pay for better qualified and/or talented human resources. However, to link the need for better pay to personal integrity is dangerous and undermines staff morale. How much pay would be enough to stave off the advances of the multibillion dollar corporations? This mephitic reasoning must be cut from our national psyche ‘Pay us better or we will thief’ cannot become our national ethos. Integrity is not linked to monetary reward!
Editor, the solution to the issue of corruption lies within individuals.
Leaders should not cast aspersions on integrity. Leaders must seek to inspire by asking our young people to perform duties with integrity; to remind employees what is at stake for them personally and for our nation.
Let them know the pride we feel watching them serve and assure them that they are playing a vital role in ensuring a better future for themselves and all Guyanese. I am ashamed to say Government elements of my generation seem to have forgotten the taste of ‘salt and rice’.
Respectfully,
Robin Singh