DLP leader calls on PM to significantly increase pensionable age for politicians

President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Dr Ronnie Yearwood is challenging Prime Minister Mia Mottley to put her money where her mouth is and move now to significantly move the age at which Parliamentarians get a pension from 50 years.

He said there was no need for her to wait on a report from the Parliamentary Reform Commission (PRC) to take the step.

Yearwood was responding to Mottley’s comments at a press conference last Friday that the pensionable age for politicians should be increased. She however said the terms and conditions of Members of Parliament ( MPs) were part of the remit of the PRC which is to submit a report by year-end.

However, the DLP leader dismissed Mottley’s position on waiting.

“What utter rubbish. because if she wanted to raise the age, she could do so. What’s the wait?” he queried.

“She hasn’t waited to raise the age for everyone else but is buying time for her and her 29 [colleagues in the House of Assembly]. Meanwhile, gas is up again, the pension age going up, people barely getting through the cost of the existing crisis.”

Prime Ministers immediately qualify for a full pension once they demit office, and members of the House of Assembly are eligible for pension at age 50 or get two-thirds of their salary in pension after two terms in office.

The Government has proposed that the pensionable age for the general population rise to 67½ years in 2028 and to 68 years in 2024. However, Yearwood insisted that it should stay at 67 and MPs’ pensionable age be brought in line with everyone else.

“If she is about equality, show us. She runs to Parliament to… [make] her friend a Senator. But all of a sudden, it will take time to decide if MPs’ pension age should go up. I really want the PM to stop believing her own folly. For once, just act right and do good for the people,” he declared.

During her press conference, the Prime Minister stressed that an MP’s retirement age should not be as high as the wider population, since they do not get the same NIS benefits as those whose contribution rate was just over 18 per cent.

“A Member of Parliament contributes to their pension at a rate of 17.1 per cent, just like a self-employed person, but we can’t draw sickness benefit, we don’t draw invalidity benefit, we don’t draw all of those severance payments. If a minister is fired tomorrow, they don’t get to go before the Employment Rights Tribunal…. They have no similar benefits like the others,” she explained.

Yearwood also took Mottley to task for trying to “justify” the debt restructuring that saw the Government write off $1.3 billion of debt owed to the NIS.

He reiterated his earlier calls for the money to be repaid over the long term.

“It is real simple. For the majority of entities, the debt restructuring took the form of the Government reducing the original interest rates and extending the maturity. So, for example, if you had invested in a 10-year bond at eight per cent interest, the terms were changed to, say, 15 years at four per cent. You still got your principal back but in a longer time and at a lower interest,” the DLP leader said.

“For NIS, $1.3 billion worth of principal was written off, not restructured. So, NIS got two hits on the funds lent to the Government – $1.3 billion was written off totally, and the NIS got less interest over a longer period on others.”

He insisted that the monies invested represented workers’ contributions and the Government should commit to paying it back.

“What is more, the NIS $1.3 billion was a wealth transfer from the poorest to the richest. Mia wrote off the assets of the poorest in society. Failure to repay means Mia and the BLP punishing those with limited funds,” Yearwood asserted.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb