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Numerous broken promises for Region Ten – MP Vanessa Kissoon
– says $3.2B electricity subvention is not a “favour”
By Latoya Giles
While government continues to boast about this year’s budget being the largest ever, many persons do not see this, nor does it have an impact on their lives, says APNU Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon.
Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon
Kissoon made the assertion during her budget debate presentation to the House on Monday evening. She spoke of numerous “broken” promises which the government has made to the people of Region Ten. She also highlighted several instances where government had found itself fighting off corruption allegations.
“That measly top up of $625 to Pensioners and to the Public Servants whose wages and salaries were not budgeted for because of some flimsy excuse is nothing but a gimmick.”
Kissoon said that the rising inequalities are affecting all Guyanese.
“Those who voted for the government also view the big talks of spending, promises of building and improving infrastructure as more opportunities for corruption.”
She said that to date the August 21, 2012 Agreement between Central Government and the Regional Democratic Council of Region Ten is yet to fully convince anyone that “honesty is the best policy” and will present none of the preponderance of external sourcing on corruption.
Kissoon noted that the $3.2B which Finance Minister Ashni Singh boasted about for the electricity subsidy for Linden and Kwakwani should be placed in its proper perspective. She said that the people of Region Ten do not see the subvention as a “favour” or one borne out of compassion but as a responsibility of a government who had dismantled the electricity infrastructure without regard for its history.
Kissoon stressed that the region has taken note of Minister Singh’s statement about his desire to expand bauxite output. According to the APNU MP, it was the Late President Dr. Cheddi Jagan who reminded the nation that “development must carry a human face” and as stated in the new Global Order, “human rights must embrace the civil and political rights”.
She also chided the administration for “…bauxite expansion or rather the exploitation of renewable resources to the enrichment of foreign oligarchs and their few local counterparts creaming the wealth of this nation and violating the rights of workers by disregarding the laws.”
Kissoon said that people in Region Ten witness this daily, “in almost every infrastructure the government touches”. She told the House that there continues to be substandard works in Phase 3 of Amelia’s Ward, where so far 80 percent of the completed road shows signs of deterioration.
Kissoon alleges that some $69M was misused through sloppy patch works done on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway which sees a heavy traffic flow.
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