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PNCR promises to expose budget deficiencies

Feb 12, 2010 News

…says no measures to deal with corruption announced

Opposition Leader Robert Corbin yesterday told media operatives at the party’s weekly press briefing that the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) will from Monday begin to expose the deficiencies and lack of vision in the 2010 Budget, which he says is replete with ad hoc allocations.
Corbin also chided the Finance Minister, saying that the Budget highlights huge expenditure in several sectors, but there is no mention of measures to be put in place to address corruption. “It is known that Guyana ranks high on the world’s Corruption Index and the huge leakages from the public purse continues to be highlighted in the Reports of the Auditor General and elsewhere.”
According to Corbin, the continued failure to commit to the early establishment of the Public Procurement Commission in 2010 confirms that the Bharrat Jagdeo Administration has no interest in addressing the problem of corruption and discrimination in the award of Governmental contracts.
“It is evident that to do so would damage their entire political hierarchy.”
Corbin also slammed the Finance Minister for allocations of resources, “allegedly, for specialized training of youth outside of the long established training institutions.”
This, the PNCR leader opined, is a blatant attempt to politicize the activity, “while ensuring the continued strangulation of the Critchlow Labour College by withholding allocations to that institution.”
Corbin said that it was strange and ironic that while the Minister has announced such huge allocations for technical training outside of the established institutions, nothing has been allocated to improve the quality of training at the Government Technical Institutes, even in the face of industrial action by the teaching staff of those institutions.
“The Budget also failed to address the issue of unemployment.”
Corbin said that after spending three hours outlining his $142.8B Budget, Guyanese are still at a loss to discern how this Budget would help to improve their well-being. “It is, therefore, understandable why the Minister and his colleagues appeared unimpressed by their own Budget.”
He said that whilst VAT ensured that billions of dollars over the projected target were collected last year, it remains a millstone around people’s necks, and the Government has failed to lift the income tax threshold for yet another year.
As such, the Opposition leader pointed out that a large proportion of the six per cent increase in wages and salaries to public servants will return to the Government in taxes with little benefit to the workers.
“While the budget announces ad hoc allocations in several sectors they have little relevance to taking the large and increasing number of Guyanese out of poverty.”
According to Corbin, the Government’s continued failure to engage in consultations with relevant stakeholders, before the preparation and presentation of the 2010 Budget, “is typical of the arrogant and high-handed behaviour, of this Administration…However, this is understandable since any such consultations would only have revealed that the 2010 Budget would be long on words but short on substance.”

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