The budget debate

Jan 25, 2011 Editorial

The budget debates have begun and once more we are going to hear the criticisms as well as the positive aspects of the budget. We are going to hear of the slush fund for the ruling People’s Progressive Party for the upcoming general elections.
We are also going to hear that the money could have been better spent had there been a greater concentration on people rather than on things. For example, while many say that the one laptop per family is a good thing, there are those who see it as an added burden on families, particularly those families who must now find money to access the internet.
This year the government has allocated $1.8 billion (US$9 million) for the first phase of this laptop programme. If one is to take the situation at face value one may concede that the need for extra money from the household for the internet could be taxing. But when one considers that the cost of text books and the cost of travelling to access information, one may find that the one laptop per family is actually a revenue saving venture.
In addition, Guyana must be one of the few countries where computers are not as widespread as they should be. These days, computers have replaced most textbooks and children find that they can barely exist without them. There are other benefits. Already the nation is complaining that reading skills are fast disappearing. With computers, the researching student is bound to read.
But the budget is more than the laptop per family programme; it is about household income, it is about the provision of medical services and it is about national security. In the budget, there is a substantial vote for national security, the first time that the government has seen it fit to spend so much money in this direction.
But even as there is this outlay of funds the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Prison Service are contending that they are experiencing a shortage of personnel. It means that despite more money is being spent, less people ensure that the project execution is successful.
Indeed, technology had reduced the need for the human factor in many cases and with its growing skills shortage, Guyana needs to expand in the area of information technology. For example, it is still a time consuming affair to research vehicle ownership although the situation has dramatically improved from three years ago.
For example, a police patrol, by inspection, cannot determine whether a vehicle is stolen or whether it is bearing false number plates. And these days, we do know that the false number plate on vehicles is more prominent than we want to believe. In recent times the police have been able to pull in two or more vehicles with the same number.
The budget should have addressed expanding technology in this area although it does say that the introduction of a high speed cable from neighbouring Brazil will help in what the state calls its ICT programme.
Beginning yesterday, the Parliamentary opposition also focused on the value added tax which the government says is a means of capturing tax dodgers and broadening the tax net but which the opposition describes as a burden on people.
Indeed, the people have been paying this tax for the past three years to the extent that they have grown accustomed to it. At the same time the government has found an unexpected source of revenue which, according to President Bharrat Jagdeo, would help fund the salaries of the 300-plus doctors returning home in another year.
The political opposition wants a reduction in the value added tax but the government is not likely to accede to this. Admittedly, the government was forced to make adjustments when it recognised that it was reaping much more than a windfall. What was supposed to be a revenue neutral tax is now a cash cow.
There is going to be focus on the justice system with calls for better pay for judges and magistrates without whom the system would collapse. The opposition would point to the number of magistrates who quit after a few months.
But most of all, what is most likely to dominate the budget debate would be the issue of wages and salaries. The opposition would argue that while infrastructure is necessary the government would do well to ensure that its people can live better. It is this inability to make two ends meet that is fueling outward migration.

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The budget debate

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