And while we caught up with Faber at his vaccination, we took the opportunity to ask him about his party's position on the proposed salary cuts and increment freezes.
Not surprisingly, the UDP has sent out a release stating that it strongly opposes the cuts, especially in view of fiscal indiscipline apparent in public spending by the new government.
The release surmises that the Briceno administration has, quote, "significantly increased the number of ministries, created numerous lucrative posts and hired political hacks with exorbitant salaries…while simultaneously wasting millions of dollars to purchase brand new, luxurious vehicles, and to rent expensive, unnecessary office space" unquote.
Today, Faber reiterated this sentiment and said the PUP is the "full belly telling the empty belly to have heart.":
Hon Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition
"We do not support the government in the proposed 10% salary cut or its increment freezes for the next three years I think is what is being proposed. You know, the fact of the matter is that there is so much else going on and the government is saying it can't afford and there is no dispute that we are in tough times, there is dispute about why we are here and they keep on blaming of course the UDP administration completely forgetting in fact that they saddled the government with the super bond that is still there but that's another matter. That fact of the matter is that even in the plight that we're in now, the PUP government continues to be very reckless, continues to nonchalantly going about pleasing itself and its party supporters, we've seen how many new vehicles, we've seen the issue with the Ministry of Health vehicles, and the way in which they operate, we've seen the Prime Minister rent two new office space when there is a perfectly good office space in Belmopan and Cabinet room in Belmopan. So they are reckless and our position is now as it always been that we should try our very best to keep this large block for employees working so that they can contribute back to the economy, it doesn't make any sense for you to cut the spending power for people who practically don't save anyway, they're spending all their monies especially in light of the pandemic and that will only in our view lead to problems. The fact that gasoline prices are so high, fuel prices in general are so high, causes major concern, so all of this combined, no, it's not the best way now. Will the government have to take measures? We've said yes but that's not where they should start. We're not just preaching this in fact this was the practice of the UDP you know former PM did his best support by all of us in the Cabinet to ensure there was no pay cut to our teachers, public servants, police officers, and we make these distinctions because sometimes people don't realize that some of the very same frontline workers, the nurses, the doctors, the police officers, they are going to get a pay cut when in fact they have been taking a licking on the frontline fighting this pandemic."
And as a politician who was in office for the past 13 years, he gave some suggestions to the PUP government on how they can save without cutting salaries.
Hon Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition
"We don't need to start at cutting the salaries of teachers, we may look at strengthening the taxation systems so that the leakages aren't there and that may mean tightening up the belt for a lot of things. We can start by collecting some of those government taxes that are overdue, we've seen this done already, the UDP in fact when it was government did a kind of amnesty program that saw $50 million dollars be collected, that's a good way to go, there are many who believe we sold out for a little bit of nothing but that's $50 million dollars. But now is the time. And this is the thing with the Briceno administration, look, they have it all, central government, the local government, political capital stockpiled and there are tough decisions that need to be made and so this is the time to make those decisions, spend your political capital on doing what is right to fix the economy rather than just putting on band aid effects or actually putting on actions and initiatives that will hurt the economy because cutting the disposable income of our teachers and public servants will hurt the economy, it is broad as daylight that that will be the case."
"They have no plan, if they had a plan to grow the economy, to get new industries, to fight off this pandemic and to make sure that things are revived in a quick way, we would be in a much better position and that is what the UDP would be doing if we were in government."
The UDP's press release states that they quote, "condemn…the gross disrespect to our teachers and public officers by elected officials who keep making public statements that are uncomplimentary, condescending and downright demeaning." End quote.
Of course, recent history illustrates that not long ago UDP politicians were accused of doing much the same.
