Samuda keeps minimum wage numbers close to chest
Minister of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) Karl Samuda Thursday apologised to colleagues in the House of Representatives but insisted that he would not release new minimum rates proposed by the National Minimum Wage Advisory Commission (NMWAC) until the appropriate time.
Acknowledging that there would be a focus on the issue at this time of the year, Samuda said he would not go any further with it in his opening statement to the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) of the House of Representatives as he made his contribution to its probe into the Estimates of Expenditure for 20223/24 for his ministry.
“Everyone is focused on that at this time of the year, and I can just advise you that I have been given the report by the commission. I know what is being proposed. But it is one of those levels of confidentiality that I suspect, I am not sure as I have never seen it in the law, but I suspect the violation of it would send me to jail,” the minister suggested.
“At least, I view it as confidential as that, but [for the time being] it is in the possession of the permanent secretary and myself and those who put it together,” he added.
“It was on that date that I gave a commitment because it had been lingering out there for a long time prior to that announcement, and I gave a commitment that I would seek to have the NMW report annually,” he said. “It is my expectation that we will be within the time frame that was projected.”
Samuda noted that his ministry’s budget, which stood at $14.2 billion in 2022/23, was increased during that fiscal year, fed by the four supplementary estimates tabled by Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke. Increased allocations were to cover expenditures such as increased compensation for the ministry’s staff, which he described as “something very badly needed”; one-off special grant payments under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH); the National InsuranceScheme (NIS); Social Pension and other public assistance programmes, through one-off payments.
He noted that the estimate for 2023/2024 had been increased to $16.9 billion for the next fiscal year, which commences on April 1, and represents an increase of $2.7 billion or 16 per cent over the original budget for 2022/23.