Opposition Member of Parliament Volda Lawrence believes that the country’s public servants will not see any improvements in their standard of living with the recently announced 8% across the board increase by the government.

In fact, Ms. Lawrence is predicting that after the lump sum payment to public servants in December, the cost of living complaints will be high on the agenda again.

During an appearance on her party’s Nation Watch tv programme, she said the government did not take the need of public servants into consideration when it imposed the 8% salary increase.

“At the end of this month, at the end of December, then people are going to be questioning, what did we really receive, because Guyanese people can now make a choice as whether the APNU+AFC government had their best interest at heart as oppose to the PPP government because we didn’t only give increases to bridge the gaps left by the PPP after their 23 years in office,” Lawarence said.

The increase, Ms. Lawrence said should have reflected the reality on the ground after careful consideration with the unions representing the workers.  

“So the prices are going to balloon, you are giving this increase at the time of Christmas when everybody is going out there and shop, so basically at the end of December, people are going to start questioning, did I really get an increase, what is it I got? Because, where is it,” Lawarence questions.

According to the Opposition Member of Parliament, the poverty rate is way too high in Guyana for the government to just impose its will on the people without having a careful analysis of their needs.

“So its time for them to start considering measures that will affect people across the board in a positive way, you give an increase and it sounds good but when I as a head of a household get out into the market, get into he supermarket, then its another ball game,” Lawrence said.

The Government has come in for some criticism over the 8% retroactive salary increase, with many public servants complaining that the rise in the cost of living is impacting their lives and spending and 8% will not fix that.

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