STARTING THIS MONTH government employees will receive a 15 percent pay increase. This sounds like significant until the amount on which that percentage is calculated comes into the picture. That’s exactly the problem. 15 percent of SRD 12,000 is SRD 1,800. 15 percent of SRD 68,000, the basic remuneration of members of parliament, is SRD 10,200.
The same percentage therefore increases the distance between low and high paid workers in absolute amounts. The question is whether a general percentage increase is the best way to help the civil servants who feel the purchasing power crisis the most.
An old warning remains relevant: ‘pay peanuts and you get monkeys‘
It becomes even more painful when the increase through legal link affects political office holders. The discussion about this was also held in the National Assembly at the time.
In November 2024, more than six months before the elections, parliament approved four laws on the financial provisions of the three state powers. The consequences of this are now becoming visible again: an increase intended for national servants can, due to the chosen remuneration system, reach much further than the group for which an improvement in purchasing power is most urgent.
There should be a much louder debate about this in parliament. But the silence in those parts is deafening. Representatives are not just there to ask questions or make comments. If they believe that a scheme is socially unjust, they may force change.
President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons has spoken with the judiciary to temporarily waive the effect of the increase. However, the same urgency is not noticeable regarding the remuneration of members of the government and parliament.
Legislation against automatic coupling is being developed. One thing should not be lost sight of: decent government salaries are not a luxury. They are civil servants who keep ministries, schools, tax offices and other public services running.
Suriname also struggles with a limited pool of qualified personnel. With the development of the oil and gas sector, competition for well-skilled workers will only increase.
When employees can earn significantly more elsewhere, they leave. That is not a lack of patriotism, but economic logic. If supermarkets can now attract teachers from education with salaries of around SRD 20,000, the problem will become many times greater as soon as companies in new growth sectors offer salaries that the government cannot possibly match.
That is why the discussion should not be about whether civil servants should earn more, but which civil servants need the money most and how the government distributes scarce money as fairly as possible. And that is why an old warning remains relevant to the government: ‘pay peanuts and you get monkeys’.
Anyone who wants a professional government must be prepared to pay for it. But anyone who preaches social justice must at the same time ensure that the greatest benefit of a purchasing power measure does not go to public servants who already earn the most.
