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We're not all crooks, say retired parliamentarians
H G HELPS, Editor-at-Large Special Coverage Unit specialcoverageunit@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, March 30, 2009
Some retired parliamentarians complained that members of the public had the perception that all politicians were crooks and left government with their pockets stuffed with public money.
Former construction minister O D Ramtallie said that when he was first elected to Parliament in 1976 he never knew how small a salary an MP received. "The first month that I received my salary and looked at it, I said to myself 'but this is the same pay that I was getting at the co-operative in Four Paths that I had left to enter politics'," Ramtallie related to the Observer.
He bemoaned the conditions facing many former elected officials.
"Some are simply waiting in the departure lounge. The pension is small and some of us who were involved in farming are feeling it, because farming mash up.
"Like me, for example, I was into cane farming, supplying cane to New Yarmouth and Monymusk factories, but cane farming is no longer payable. Replanting is prohibitive, and if you plant now you are going to lose off the first crop. A lot of ex-politicians are not doing too well," Ramtallie said.
One former JLP minister of government who opted not to be identified, said that often people do not sympathise with retired politicians when they fall on tough times.
"They often believe that we have a bag of money when we leave politics and our bread is buttered," he said. "This is so far from the truth. I am not saying that some politicians do not get involved in corruption and take kickbacks, but a majority of us are not into racketeering.
"It is a rough situation, because if politicians get increased salaries, the people say we are looking after ourselves. When we leave politics with little to live off, some people say we are worthless and should have secured our future when we were in the system. You just can't win.
"My health is not good, my pension is small and my little business doesn't make enough money, so I have to depend on the children," the JLP man said.
Jamaica's oldest retired politician, Arthur Williams Snr, a former parliamentary secretary for education from 1969 to 1972 and a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives from 1980 to 1983, is one of those whose pension cannot match up to his needs.
Williams Snr, father of state minister for national security, Senator Arthur Williams Jnr, turns 96 on August 17. He is a former schoolteacher who had been in the political system since the 1940s, running as an independent candidate in South Clarendon in 1949 and representing the Farmers Party in 1955, both times unsuccessfully.
Williams Snr, who called himself 'Another Daniel' in the 1960s, joined the JLP and ran, again unsuccessfully, against Winston Jones in 1959 in East Manchester. He lost again to Jones in 1962, but won
the newly created South Manchester seat in 1967 and, aided by the court, unseated Douglas Manley, who was declared winner of the seat by a close margin in 1972.
Then Chief Justice Kenneth Smith ruled in 1974 that ballots cast for Manley were bogus and awarded the seat to Williams, who lost again to Manley in 1976, but returned as MP from 1980-83.
The elder Williams gets two pensions. But the numbers are unrealistic for an individual's survival in these times, his son said.
"My father's pension as a former school teacher is just under $4,000 a month," Williams Jnr said.
"His pension as a three-term MP is just under $23,000 a month. Just consider that, for example, he did not have any children. How would he survive?" Williams Jnr asked. "He has four children, two of them lawyers, a doctor and an administrator. He currently lives with a daughter in Montego Bay. Thankfully, he can walk around and is not confined."
Easton Douglas, former housing minister and ex-MP for South East St Andrew, said that often politicians were battered and bruised by comments and criticisms that were unfair and unfounded.
"Many of them who receive a pension cannot pay their utility bills," said Douglas. "Yet you hear of corruption, you hear of them going into Parliament with lean heal boots and coming out as wealthy persons, because it is considered that the benefits that they obtain are so substantial that they can never be poor again.
"From a parliamentary and government point of view, they are completely forgotten. If after retirement they can still get a job with the government, then there is a level of criticism," said Douglas.
"Something needs to be done out of respect for these people who have served, particularly when you consider that they have done nothing in their period of service to bring Parliament into disrepute or disgrace."
Political historian Troy Caine told the Observer
that the perception that politicians were crooks was not always right.
"This may be a modern day phenomenon," Caine said. "I know some of the famous politicians who died as paupers, including (former premier and PNP leader) Norman Manley and Edwin Allen (former education minister). They never acquired wealth out of politics. They served because they loved it.
"I think things have changed over the last 30 years, but there are still a lot of honest politicians in the system.
"The idea that (Prime Minister Bruce) Golding has of the Constituency Development Fund is an excellent one. If only he had the money to fund it. Golding has also come with the Anti-Corruption Act, but who says that all the people on his side are clean.
"Sometimes, some ministers get blame for things that they should not be blamed for," Caine said.
The case of former JLP labour minister, JAG Smith, who died last year, and the pending court matter involving former parliamentary secretary Kern Spencer may have added fuel to the fire of criticism about politicians being pocket stuffers of state funds.
Smith was jailed in the 1990s for embezzling funds from the Farm Workers programme, while Spencer is trying to fend off accusations that he defrauded the Cuban light bulb programme.
Retired politicians like former Justice Minister Carl Rattray and Dr Douglas Manley, brother of former Prime Minister Michael Manley, are both facing health challenges, but Manley's economic situation is
more severe.
Manley is living at the Government's pleasure at a home in Drumblair.
Rattray is getting his pension as a former parliamentarian, as well as former president of the Court of Appeal.
"I wonder what would have happened to Carl if he did not serve as president of the Court of Appeal," Douglas said. "It is from that pension that he is surviving. But look at Douglas Manley, he is suffering."
Williams Jnr is advocating that something different should be worked out for politicians who have served.
"I think that we have to treat the politicians a little different from everybody else," said Williams Jnr. "A politician very often disrupts his normal position to enter politics and very often cannot re-enter, so he doesn't have a state job after politics. We don't need special treatment, but because of their special circumstances, this is a special breed of people and a small group.
Added Williams Jnr: "Another case in point is that of former (JLP) MP Sydney Beaumont in Mandeville, a first cousin of my father. He was also a teacher, but can't teach anymore. His wife also doesn't teach anymore. She is ill and he is getting on in age. It's due to strong support from the Seventh-day Adventist Church why people like him can survive."
We're not all crooks, say retired parliamentarians
H G HELPS, Editor-at-Large Special Coverage Unit specialcoverageunit@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, March 30, 2009
Some retired parliamentarians complained that members of the public had the perception that all politicians were crooks and left government with their pockets stuffed with public money.
Former construction minister O D Ramtallie said that when he was first elected to Parliament in 1976 he never knew how small a salary an MP received. "The first month that I received my salary and looked at it, I said to myself 'but this is the same pay that I was getting at the co-operative in Four Paths that I had left to enter politics'," Ramtallie related to the Observer.
He bemoaned the conditions facing many former elected officials.
"Some are simply waiting in the departure lounge. The pension is small and some of us who were involved in farming are feeling it, because farming mash up.
"Like me, for example, I was into cane farming, supplying cane to New Yarmouth and Monymusk factories, but cane farming is no longer payable. Replanting is prohibitive, and if you plant now you are going to lose off the first crop. A lot of ex-politicians are not doing too well," Ramtallie said.
One former JLP minister of government who opted not to be identified, said that often people do not sympathise with retired politicians when they fall on tough times.
"They often believe that we have a bag of money when we leave politics and our bread is buttered," he said. "This is so far from the truth. I am not saying that some politicians do not get involved in corruption and take kickbacks, but a majority of us are not into racketeering.
"It is a rough situation, because if politicians get increased salaries, the people say we are looking after ourselves. When we leave politics with little to live off, some people say we are worthless and should have secured our future when we were in the system. You just can't win.
"My health is not good, my pension is small and my little business doesn't make enough money, so I have to depend on the children," the JLP man said.
Jamaica's oldest retired politician, Arthur Williams Snr, a former parliamentary secretary for education from 1969 to 1972 and a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives from 1980 to 1983, is one of those whose pension cannot match up to his needs.
Williams Snr, father of state minister for national security, Senator Arthur Williams Jnr, turns 96 on August 17. He is a former schoolteacher who had been in the political system since the 1940s, running as an independent candidate in South Clarendon in 1949 and representing the Farmers Party in 1955, both times unsuccessfully.
Williams Snr, who called himself 'Another Daniel' in the 1960s, joined the JLP and ran, again unsuccessfully, against Winston Jones in 1959 in East Manchester. He lost again to Jones in 1962, but won
the newly created South Manchester seat in 1967 and, aided by the court, unseated Douglas Manley, who was declared winner of the seat by a close margin in 1972.
Then Chief Justice Kenneth Smith ruled in 1974 that ballots cast for Manley were bogus and awarded the seat to Williams, who lost again to Manley in 1976, but returned as MP from 1980-83.
The elder Williams gets two pensions. But the numbers are unrealistic for an individual's survival in these times, his son said.
"My father's pension as a former school teacher is just under $4,000 a month," Williams Jnr said.
"His pension as a three-term MP is just under $23,000 a month. Just consider that, for example, he did not have any children. How would he survive?" Williams Jnr asked. "He has four children, two of them lawyers, a doctor and an administrator. He currently lives with a daughter in Montego Bay. Thankfully, he can walk around and is not confined."
Easton Douglas, former housing minister and ex-MP for South East St Andrew, said that often politicians were battered and bruised by comments and criticisms that were unfair and unfounded.
"Many of them who receive a pension cannot pay their utility bills," said Douglas. "Yet you hear of corruption, you hear of them going into Parliament with lean heal boots and coming out as wealthy persons, because it is considered that the benefits that they obtain are so substantial that they can never be poor again.
"From a parliamentary and government point of view, they are completely forgotten. If after retirement they can still get a job with the government, then there is a level of criticism," said Douglas.
"Something needs to be done out of respect for these people who have served, particularly when you consider that they have done nothing in their period of service to bring Parliament into disrepute or disgrace."
Political historian Troy Caine told the Observer
that the perception that politicians were crooks was not always right.
"This may be a modern day phenomenon," Caine said. "I know some of the famous politicians who died as paupers, including (former premier and PNP leader) Norman Manley and Edwin Allen (former education minister). They never acquired wealth out of politics. They served because they loved it.
"I think things have changed over the last 30 years, but there are still a lot of honest politicians in the system.
"The idea that (Prime Minister Bruce) Golding has of the Constituency Development Fund is an excellent one. If only he had the money to fund it. Golding has also come with the Anti-Corruption Act, but who says that all the people on his side are clean.
"Sometimes, some ministers get blame for things that they should not be blamed for," Caine said.
The case of former JLP labour minister, JAG Smith, who died last year, and the pending court matter involving former parliamentary secretary Kern Spencer may have added fuel to the fire of criticism about politicians being pocket stuffers of state funds.
Smith was jailed in the 1990s for embezzling funds from the Farm Workers programme, while Spencer is trying to fend off accusations that he defrauded the Cuban light bulb programme.
Retired politicians like former Justice Minister Carl Rattray and Dr Douglas Manley, brother of former Prime Minister Michael Manley, are both facing health challenges, but Manley's economic situation is
more severe.
Manley is living at the Government's pleasure at a home in Drumblair.
Rattray is getting his pension as a former parliamentarian, as well as former president of the Court of Appeal.
"I wonder what would have happened to Carl if he did not serve as president of the Court of Appeal," Douglas said. "It is from that pension that he is surviving. But look at Douglas Manley, he is suffering."
Williams Jnr is advocating that something different should be worked out for politicians who have served.
"I think that we have to treat the politicians a little different from everybody else," said Williams Jnr. "A politician very often disrupts his normal position to enter politics and very often cannot re-enter, so he doesn't have a state job after politics. We don't need special treatment, but because of their special circumstances, this is a special breed of people and a small group.
Added Williams Jnr: "Another case in point is that of former (JLP) MP Sydney Beaumont in Mandeville, a first cousin of my father. He was also a teacher, but can't teach anymore. His wife also doesn't teach anymore. She is ill and he is getting on in age. It's due to strong support from the Seventh-day Adventist Church why people like him can survive."
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