THE GOVT. HAS A POOR TRACK RECORD OF RESPONSIVENESS TO BUDGET CONSULTATIONS

Feb 13, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Just before he died, Forbes Burnham was engaged in what was described as “unity’ talks with the People’s Progressive Party.
These talks followed two developments: first, a decision taken by the Communists of the region urging unity and understanding amongst left wing parties; and secondly the invasion of Grenada which left Forbes Burnham isolated from the Americans.
Burnham was not interested in any unity with the PPP. He wanted to restore his personal credibility in the socialist world following the cowardly assassination of Walter Rodney. As such he tried to create the façade that he was prepared to work with fellow left wing parties in his own country to give effect to the call by the communist parties in the Caribbean.
Thirdly, he hoped that by playing the “Jagan” card he would scare the Americans into improving their relations with his government which had by then virtually bankrupted the economy.
The Americans did not fall for the bait. After Grenada, they were finished with Burnham. The dictator found himself isolated from the Left because of the murder of Rodney and isolated from the Right because of Grenada and the stance he took.
Since he always claimed he was never right wing or left wing, he was thus a man without leanings – someone lacking any international credibility, a forlorn and disgraced leader who had played his full deck of cards and had come away empty-handed.
He therefore no longer had any use for Jagan and it was time to dump the talks with the PPP. An excuse had to be found to do so and the PPP, through Mrs. Jagan, came to his rescue.
The Mirror newspaper had carried an article highly critical about the government and Burnham used this to indicate that he could no longer have talks with the PPP after Mrs. Jagan refused to recall the article.
There were shades of that incident this past week when an article appeared in the newspapers indicating that the opposition was lukewarm towards the Budget talks with the government.
This seemed to have upset the Minister of Finance who felt that the criticisms could have prejudiced the outcome of the talks. The comments he also felt were surprising, given his own impressions about the tone of the discussions. He felt that these comments were definitely not helpful to the process.
Regardless of the tone of the talks, the opposition must be justified in being circumspect about talks over the Budget. The government has hardly ever entertained any of the suggestions of the opposition. In fact, the private sector and the labour movement have in the past been critical of the annual consultations held by the Minister of Finance on the Budget, since hardly any of their proposals have been considered.
The Budget consultations have become a discredited process. It is almost as if those being consulted are talking to a wall. They know that very little of what they propose will make the final cut and against this background the opposition is fully justified in being lukewarm towards the ongoing discussions which have taken place at the most unholy of hours, just weeks before the deadline for the presentation of the Budget.
And they are further justified when the Minister himself announced that there is not likely to be any major deviation from the direction that the government has been pursuing.
The opposition may very well interpret this comment as meaning, ‘you can talk all you want, but we are not going to make any drastic changes’. They can also counter that this comment is just as prejudicial as the ones they have been making to the press.
They can even counter that this comment by the Minister of Finance is defiantly most unhelpful and the talks are further prejudiced when one minister can go public and indicate that the tariffs for crossing the Berbice Bridge will not be reduced. This is one of the issues on the table for discussion.
The government has to do more to convince the nation that it is serious about these engagements and is not simply going through the motions. The government has a poor track record of responsiveness towards consultations, and if there is any grouping that needs to change its attitude towards talks it is the government.
In as much therefore as the government may feel upset by the opposition’s comments on the Budget talks between the sides, the opposition has more justifiable reasons to be negative.

Latest News

THE GOVT. HAS A POOR TRACK RECORD OF RESPONSIVENESS TO BUDGET CONSULTATIONS

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 17th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

NSC, Office of the DPP to host Criminal Law and Sexual Offences Act...

Lucas Chung maintains strong standing at 2nd...

Farm Supplies Ltd. supports Bartica Regatta 2025

Legislation and Investment: Trinidad to Brazil,...

Three more matches billed for this weekend

CM Khan rules at 2025 National Blitz Chess...

Features/Columnists

“One Guyana” is no less a national slogan than “Green Guyana”

If Guyana’s President Ali is the “Zelensky of the Caribbean”, who is the Putin?

Partner v. investor

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

THE GOVT. HAS A POOR TRACK RECORD OF RESPONSIVENESS TO BUDGET CONSULTATIONS

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 17th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]