Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader Jack Warner has rejected the Salaries Review Commission report.Speaking at the debate to adopt the report in Parliament on Friday, Warner said he was against the proposed salaries for MPs even though he still earned one dollar a month. When Warner first took up his MP post in Chaguanas West, he refused the monthly salary and opted for one dollar instead, donating the rest of his salary to his constituency.
"It has nothing to do with me and therefore it has to do with what is right," Warner said. The report he said was "pregnant with inconsistencies" including a role of defence adviser within the Ministry of National Security that earned as much as the Chief of Defense Staff.
"Who is this superhuman that I have never seen?" he said. He also queried the allocations to leader of the Opposition and told the Government to look past the person. "If you don't like (Dr) Keith Rowley that is your business, the office is leader of Opposition and you have to treat the office with respect," he said. He told the Government who supported the SRC figures to be careful because they might be in Opposition next year and would have to live with the decisions they took when in power. "This is not justice, this can't be justice," he said.
He took former Labour Minister Errol McLeod to task for supporting the SRC report, saying that in his previous incarnation as Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU) president general, he would never have supported that for workers. "I couldn't understand the change of role," Warner said.Warner got the Opposition bench thumping in support when he called for more respect for the MP's job."This is a Parliament and we have to respect the service and work being done here by us," he said.
Warner said he was ashamed at the "cut and paste" SRC recommendations."This report is not worth the paper on which it has been written," he said.