What campaign plegde?
June 24, 2009
By Kambes
Members of the 8th Olbiil Era Kelulau have finished passing themselves a $50,000 a year salary. An amount that puts them in the top rang of salary scale than every government employees except for the court justices and judges, doctors, and even places them equally with the President of Palau.
While the OEK members are getting ready to collect the first paycheck from their $50,000 salary this month, our disabled citizens are uncertain if they can continue to receive their monthly stipend. Last month they barely got half of their monthly stipend because of no funds available. This is yet another example of Congress delivering the best for themselves on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens.
It is upsetting to think that the OEK members who work on a part time basis – a scheduled 100 session days a year, who doesn’t really do anything but depend on their staff and legal counsels to generate papers for them only to scheme through before saying or not saying their piece in sessions, cast their votes, pick-up a paycheck and start the cycle over again, are being paid on an equal level with the President of the Republic, higher than the Vice President and Ministers who are basically running the entire operations of the government on a 24/7 basis.
And what is more disheartening is to realize that our lawmakers never intended to follow through with their campaign pledges of adjusting their own salary, as a show of good faith and sincere concern for the future of our economic well-being.
They continue to disregard public opinions and expecting the people to forget their words when they came looking for votes. However, passing their very first bill to secure their salary of $50,000 has provide them with the missed opportunity to not only showcase OEK’s resolve in remedying our overburdened economy, but also that they indeed care about the welfare of the Palauan people.
It would have shown that the lawmakers recognize the plight of the many Palauans who are facing dire financial difficulties. But most importantly, it will show that they put the concerns of the fellow Palauan people above their own.
Nobody expected the honeymoon period with our new congress to lasts long but at the same time nobody expected it to end in just 20 days. Nevertheless, what our leaders need to see is that to overcome these troubled times, we must all work together, sacrifice together, to strengthen each other and our country.
— This article was originally published in Tia Belau on February 9, 2009 —
