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PHILIPSBURG--A five per cent salary cut and an end to all first class air travel for Members of Parliament (MPs) and ministers were proposed to Parliament by independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo during the Plenary Session of Parliament dealing with the draft 2015 budget on Tuesday.
Marlin-Romeo, a member of the governing coalition, said if civil servants could do without the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) this year, MPs and ministers should be prepared to take a salary cut.
She intends to formalise her proposals in a motion slated for tabling today, Wednesday, when the plenary session continues in Parliament House at 2:00pm.
Then Democratic Party MP Roy Marlin lobbied for a similar salary cut just over a year ago, but it was withdrawn after he failed to persuade any of his coalition partners to sign on. The proposal had called for a 12 per cent cut to MPs' salaries.
There is still room for "cutbacks" in the draft 2015 budget despite its being labelled a skeleton budget by Finance Minister Martin Hassink, said Marlin-Romeo.
The budget, standing at a total of NAf. 445 million, can be helped further by Parliament and Government putting an end to "wasting and bad spending."
Instead of taking a first class seat on an aeroplane, the MP called for business or economy class seats to be booked when travel is unavoidable. This is a measure for the "trying times" the country is experiencing financially.
For the occasions where video conferencing can suffice, she said this option should be pursued in a move to cut back on cost.
All government-allocated mobile phones should be taken back from non-department heads to reduce the amounts government shells out to pay telephone bills, Marlin-Romeo said. Also, more emphasis needs to be placed on saving energy and a move to solar-generated energy.
Decommissioned government vehicles should be repaired and sold to residents, instead of sitting in the storage yard of the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI on Pond Island, the MP suggested.
Hire fewer consultants and make use of "experienced" civil servants to guide government policy was another suggestion made in Parliament.
"How much money would we save" if the government building on Pond Island were completed and government moved in, she questioned.
Cost also can be cut by a firm stance from government to weed out civil servants who are not working, but still receiving a salary.
Marlin-Romeo suggested a cutback on study financing and the issuance of study grants to students pursuing studies to fill critical vacancies in government's apparatus. Students also should be granted funds to study in accredited universities in the Caribbean to lessen the cost of study in Europe and elsewhere.
All businesses and residents should have unique identifying numbers for easy tracking. This will aid in tax compliance, better organisation and delivery of government services, the MP said.
A comprehensive plan to diversify the economy to generate more income for the country also is needed. To complement that, she suggested the development of activities to promote the country's heritage and culture.
