AFC, APNU set ambitious elections targets for disciplined services

The Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) have set ambitious targets for disciplined services ahead of the September 1 General and Regional Elections, including doubling the annual bonus, which it scrapped while in government.

The AFC, led by Nigel Hughes, said it will ensure that all new recruits have a starting salary of $250,000 and vowed that there will be a $150,000 minimum salary for the lowest-ranking officers.

The AFC is also promising that ranks will get two month’s tax-free bonus every Christmas while civilian workers will get a one-month tax-free bonus. The party also pledged that border stationed ranks will get an extra $50,000 tax free bonus while every member will get an annual $100,000 cash grant.

The AFC was part of the APNU+AFC coalition government in office from 2015 to 2020 that scrapped the long standing one-month joint services bonus. It was reported that the then Finance Minister Winston Jordan urged the security forces to cease yearning for bonuses because they rob them of salary increases which are permanent and long-term and help to determine the size of their pensions.

Meanwhile, the AFC also said each member who turns 18 will get a free house lot.

The party also vowed to introduce standardized compensation. Families will get $10 million if a member dies in the line of duty, while ranks will get a one-off payment of $5 million for any permanent injury on duty and $2.5 million for off-duty permanent injuries.

Then at a press conference on Friday, APNU’s Aubrey Norton unveiled some of the party’s promises for members of the joint services.

APNU promised to increase the salaries of soldiers and Police officers by up to 35%, with yearly bonuses. It also said its promised across-the-board tax-free threshold oof $400,000 will benefit them.

APNU also said police and soldiers enjoy all the other benefits it plans to implement for all citizens, such as rent-to-own housing, water and electricity subsidy, and child allowances for children up to 18 years.

Mr. Norton also doubled down on his rhetoric of prejudicial treatment and said that APNU, if elected, would ensuring promotions and training scholarships are based on merit and transparent rules, not on politics or favoritism. He also promised to give ranks priority for house-lot allocation and housing.

And he said an expert commission to review the conditions of service and to make recommendations on living conditions in camps and compounds, benefits and compensation, job satisfaction, and personal safety would be established. All officers would have better working conditions, he said too.