Latest update April 28th, 2026 12:30 AM
Government cannot have its cake and eat it too
DEAR EDITOR:
In wrapping up the budget debate in Parliament on Tuesday April 9, 2013, the Minister of Finance Ashni Singh was arrogant, rude and insulting to the opposition, especially AFC member Moses Nagamootoo and APNU shadow finance minister Carl Greenidge, the very group of people he depends on for their cooperation to pass the budget.
The minister did not only muddy the water, but he destroyed all hopes of any chance of getting his budget through Parliament as is. It is not going to happen.
After listening to the bombastic presentations of Ms. Gail Teixeira and several others in the PPP, it is clear that the minority government wants to dictate to the majority opposition and the people of Guyana that they are the only ones who know what is good for Guyana. This was evidenced in the budget speeches in Parliament by several members of the PPP.
How can they ignore requests from the majority opposition to discuss the budget before presenting it to the nation and then expect the opposition to support it? The Government cannot have its cake and eat it too.
The mindset of the PPP on the budget is very troubling, if not deceitful, and could eventually lead to the bankruptcy of Guyana all over again. The same things that its members criticized the PNC regime for in 70s and 80s and at Babu John every year are happening all over again.
As much as we are inclined to commend the opposition on its presentation on the Budget in Parliament, we will reserve comment until the Committee of Supply meets and the opposition gets a chance to scrutinize every line item in the budget and makes its recommendations for the cuts they intend to institute.
As a pre-condition we urged the opposition to demand the establishment of the Procurement Commission and that all public monies must be placed into the Consolidated Fund. This is one of the ways to end or reduce corruption and for the government to be accountable to the people. For, as they say, the devil is in the detail.
Further, as is evidenced by the failure of the administration to present a working class budget that benefits all the people and not only the wealthy, it does not inspire confidence in the people of the regime’s ability to accomplish anything worthy for the have-nots. The consequence of such colossal failure has been a sliding domestic currency and, worse, low consumer confidence.
This government has shown its inability, if not its ineptness, at explaining its economic strategies and fiscal policies to the Guyanese people and mobilizing them around its economic and human development programmes. However, we recognize that this calls for good and effective leadership which the PPP does not possess.
There is consensus that the crux of Guyana’s economic and social problems is massive corruption, the lack of jobs for the youths, the low wages paid to civil/public servants, the extremely high cost for foodstuff and the huge debt, now at 80 per cent of GDP; built up by the PPP Government which borrowed excessively to finance shoddy capital works programmes rather than live within their means. There are serious signs of trouble in the making and the opposition must take a strong stance against such borrowing and waste and against a budget that caters mostly to the rich.
Opposition leader Granger is quite correct to label the budget “a cardboard budget painted to look like concrete” and Khemraj Ramjattan’s powerful remarks to the cabal,”when it starts start tightening up, we will start lightening up.” Thus we urge the combined opposition not to allow this budget to pass without appropriate reductions.
Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh
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