No praise for Browne’s promise of a pension increase, as it was due more than a year ago, Tabor says

Doubt and a “believe-it-when-I see-it” attitude are the responses of Damani
Tabor to another promise made by Prime Minister Gaston Browne to award
government pensioners an increase.

Browne reiterated the now-stale promise this past weekend, after REAL News
reported another hike in the compensation of government ministers last
Friday, April 12.

Tabor, the public relations officer for the United Progressive Party, recalls that
a similar promise had been made in the lead-up to the 2023 General Elections,
when it was claimed that pensioners would see an increase in their monthly
pensions by March last year.

In addition, Browne – the minister of finance – had promised that pensions
would be pegged to the rate of inflation. But this has not happened, to date.
Now, like public servants and Cabinet ministers, the pensioners are being
promised a 14 percent increase, which supposedly will be back dated to 2023.
Tabor says the Government’s failure to fulfill its promises to pensioners is no
surprise. In fact, he says, it is quite typical of this administration, which
regularly fails to meet its own timelines.

In the meantime, Tabor says, if the Government continues to do nothing to
tackle the high cost of living, further increases will challenge the pensioners’
ability to purchase food and maintain themselves.

Just like the public servants who are still struggling – even following their 14
percent raise – the pensioners are destined for a similar fate, Tabor notes,
since the increase is going back to the Government through the recent tax
hikes, including the Antigua and Barbuda Sales Tax (ABST).

Damani Tabor, the public relations officer (PRO) for the United
Progressive Party (UPP)