By Staff Reporter

While Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dr Timothy Harris championed the need to pay government workers a double salary for Christmas, to cushion households from the effect of Covid-19 and to stimulate the economy, Premier of Nevis and Foreign Minister Mark Brantley was riled up by the decision during the last cabinet meeting, according to persons familiar with the matter.

A source told The Observer that as soon as Prime Minister Harris was finished placing the double salary issue on the table, Brantley came out swinging.

There is no need for this. How are we going to explain it? The source paraphrased Brantley as expressing his disagreement with the move.

The source said that Harris countered Brantley’s pessimism by detailing that the country experienced a surplus on current accounts, and “we must pass some of the surplus on to people”.

The source also recounted that Harris was forceful and deliberate in his response to Brantley, and that was precisely how he delivered the announcement to the nation in his budget address of Tuesday.

Brantley subsequently praised the double salary announcement on his Facebook page shortly after the Prime Minister delivered his budget address.

In that address, Prime Minister Harris made his compelling case for the extra month’s salary to be approved.

“We understand even as we meet here, thousands of persons are still suffering. Thousands are still not fully engaged in our hotels and our restaurants – we appreciate that, and they need some help.

“We have been unique in protecting the jobs of near 10,000 people – of our civil servants and GAE workers and pensioners – by not letting off persons.”

“Mr. Speaker, we recognise that as a result of the pandemic, some of our Civil Servants are the only providers in their household. Many are forced to now singularly carry the financial burden of providing for their families. We are a compassionate and caring Government that is highly focused on investing in our people. Our decision is therefore consistent with our people-centered policy framework and our twin objectives of investing in our people and putting our economy back on track.

 

“Our action would serve to reward our Civil Servants who have been diligent in their service and help those who are finding it difficult to cope with their financial obligations,” the Prime Minister told Parliament live on radio and television.

 

He added that government will extend several of the stimulus measures that are slated to expire on 31st December 2021, with the main initiatives to be extended until June 2022 including the following:

 

•       Removal of VAT and Import Duty on additional hygiene items such as hand sanitizers, disinfectant sprays, rubbing alcohol and latex gloves. This is critical support as we continue to take preventative measures against COVID-19.

 

•       Removal of Import Duty and Customs Service Charge on selected items including vegetables, fruits, fruit juices, cough and cold preparations and vitamin supplements. This is both to help our citizens and residents boost their immune system by accessing critical supplies and to reduce the cost of living for everyone – especially the less fortunate.

 

•       Waiver of payments for consumption of water for individuals who have been laid off or experience a reduction in earnings due to COVID-19.

 

•       Waiver of payments for the consumption of water by farmers.

 

•       Reduction of the Corporate Income Tax Rate from 33 percent to 25 percent for businesses that retain at least 75 percent of their employees.

 

•       Reduction of the Unincorporated Tax Rate to 2 percent down from 4 percent.”

And there was more from the Prime Minister in relation to support for those who are not well off.

“We are also proposing that the 2022 Estimates provide the necessary resources to support the Poverty Alleviation Programme and further capitalize the Severance Payment Fund to facilitate the payment of any additional severance claims. In this regard, the amounts of $32.3 million and $5.0 million would be provided for the Poverty Alleviation Programme and the Severance Payment Fund respectively. 

“Once the economy is back on track, we would shift focus to rebuilding fiscal buffers and calibrating other policy measures to safely transition from the COVID-19 policy measures. We will focus on activities to improve the effectiveness of public spending, including cost recovery and cost cutting measures.”

The Prime Minister asserted that despite the uncertainty and volatility faced by the global community in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government embarked on a bold initiative geared towards the regularization of well over two thousand individuals employed under the Skills Training Empowerment Programme (STEP) as Government Auxiliary Employees (GAEs).  He said that individuals enrolled in the STEP were assigned to Public and Private Sector entities on both islands.

“To accomplish the task of regularization of the STEP workers, my Cabinet appointed a Select Committee. The Committee has successfully completed a number of activities to bring us to the point where the first phase would be fully implemented by the end of the first quarter of 2022. The work of the Committee entailed a comprehensive Verification Exercise.

“This was supplemented by an Employee Performance Appraisal and Evaluation Exercise conducted by Government Ministries/Departments including a recommendation by Permanent Secretaries as to whether or not to regularize STEP workers assigned to their Ministries. The regularization of the STEP workers will be done in a phased way and will commence early in 2022.”

He concluded by disclosing that the first phase of the regularization of these workers is estimated to cost $16.4 million, and that the intention is to provide better job security for a relatively large number of citizens and residents who have contributed to the work of the Government and to the development of our Country over the years as STEP workers.

“This is another clear example of our investing in our people as we provide better job security for a relatively large number of our citizens and residents.”

 

 

 

 

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