The Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) is describing as “ungracious and inequitable” the huge salary increases for politicians that were announced in Parliament on Tuesday by Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke.

In some cases, the salaries for the political directorate has been increased nearly four-fold.

This has not gone down well with many Jamaicans and the JCC is urging the Andrew Holness-led Government to roll back the increases.

“We call on the government to reconsider its intentions and recast the salary packages for government officials which bears sensitivity to, and solidarity with, the conditions of ordinary Jamaicans and reflects equity in both quantitative and qualitative respects,” said a statement from the JCC over the signature of its president, the Most Rev Kenneth D Richards.

Another church group, the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance, earlier Thursday described the decision by the government to substantially increase the salaries of parliamentarians as a “blatant and unconscionable assault on the country’s recovering fiscal standing”, adding that the move was “shameful” and “immoral”.

READ: ‘Shameful and immoral’ says church group of massive salary increases for parliamentarians

On a radio talk show on Thursday, a caller pointed out that Holness and his wife Juliet, who is the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, will next April be taking home nearly $50 million between them. Come April 1, 2024, Holness will be paid $28.6 million per annum while his wife will be paid $17.2 million.

The JCC noted that the increases amount to over 200 per cent in some cases.

“We have also noted that this announcement has been met with outcries of disapproval from several sectors,” it added.

Richards admitted that the matter of salaries for public servants is a complex and vexed one which the government has attempted to address in the recent compensation review.

However, he argued that whatever justification is presented by the administration, “sentiments of disquiet are still being registered throughout the society which indicates that there is still dissatisfaction with this process”.

The JCC President said the Council has observed that there are imbalances between the salaries of high-ranking public servants and government officials and agree that this state of affairs is unacceptable.

“We are concerned that the apparent philosophical underpinning for the massive increases in the salaries of governmental officials is the use of the principle of equality.

“We fear that the outcomes of such a pursuit would simply maintain the status quo and worsen the disparities which exist,” the church umbrella group stated.

The JCC has proposed that the guiding principle which ought to undergird all policies and practices should be equity.

“In this way, the inclusive provision of fairness and justice to all levels will be ensured. In concrete terms this means it would be those at the lower levels of the salary scales who would need the greatest levels of increase to make it possible for them to attain a livable wage,” it said.

The JCC also pointed to what it lamented was the “widening income disparities between the governed and the governing”.

“In the instant case, an increase of 200 per cent far exceeds the rate of increase of all other sectors of the public service. In addition, it flies in the face of the sad realities which the majority of Jamaicans face on a daily basis,” the JCC said.

It concluded that “the recently announced increases for government officials, therefore, when viewed against the background of the economic conditions of the average Jamaican, and especially the poor, are therefore ungracious and inequitable”.