Submitted by Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)
CGID President, Rickford Burke, a former aide to President Hoyte, accused the Jagdeo administration of “refusing to pay Mrs. Joyce Hoyte all of her husband’s retirement benefits to which she is entitled.” He also asserted that she has been denied adequate security and accused President Jagdeo of sanctioning “dangerous restrictions on Mrs. Hoyte’s personal and residential security based on “nefarious political motives” that place her life in danger, in an era of uncontrollable crime in Guyana.”
“I spoke with Mrs. Hoyte last Friday, November 14, 2008 at 2:00 PM. At the time, her residence had no security guard. She principally only has one Police office per shift at her home. The day sentry also serves as her driver, so whenever that driver is out at day on driving duty, she and/or her home is left unprotected,” Burke asserted. He said that the situation was perilous and called on Police Commissioner Henry Green to conduct a review.
Burke observed that Hoyte’s Presidential pension was a contention even before his death in 2002. “His position was that the government had refused to give him his Presidential pension and that it was beneath his dignity to go begging for it,” Burke said in a Statement Sunday. “Mr. Hoyte dedicated his entire life to the service of his country. Hence the mistreatment of his wife is repugnant, the statement added.”
He said that when Hoyte became Opposition Leader in 1992 after his party, the PNCR, lost the national elections, the PPP government seized the opportunity to “game” with his pension. “This machination was a means of political revenge by a band of people with no civil or moral compass, he said.”
“It is presumed under extant statutes, that Mr. Hoyte is entitled to: (I) His pension for his service as a Minister of the government and a Member of Parliament from 1969 to 1985 and as Prime Minister from 1984 to 1985. (II) He is entitled to his pension for his service as President of Guyana from 1985 to 1992, and (III) He is entitled to his pension as Opposition Leader of Guyana from 1992 to the time of his death on December 22, 2002,” Burke said.
The CGID President contended that as far as he is aware, “Mrs. Hoyte receives a pension from the Parliament” and called on the PPP government to “tell the nation what benefits are paid to her.” “President Jagdeo should be ashamed of himself for the repugnance of denying a seventy-five year old widow of a former President adequate security as well as her rightful benefits, while he runs around postulating about democracy,” Burke added. He lamented that “Only a government with no class, who feeds from the slums of vile, partisan politics, can be this mean-spirited.”
He also slammed the Jagdeo government for refusing to pay pension and other benefits of Guyana’s former Chief Magistrate, Juliet Holder-Allen, Adam Harris, the former Editor-in-Chief of the State-run Guyana Chronicle Newspaper and hundreds of other Afro-Guyanese retired public servants, and stressed that the government’s actions constitute a disgraceful pattern of discrimination.
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