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Budget will cause the price of icicles and ice to go up

Dec 21, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
On Saturday 3rd December whilst at a shop at Uitvlugt, someone who knows me, approached me and violently abused me for my support for the APNU+AFC, citing the 2017 budget which he strongly rejected. When I asked him why, he cited the budget and the taxes on electricity and water. I then asked if the reduction from 16% to 14% is not commendable and what was his reaction at the then time when the PPPC under Bharrat Jagdeo introduced the 16% VAT?
As for the water, I could point out one house in my vicinity that leaves their pipe on day and night and water is wasted all the time for probably one year now and another in Zeelugt where a few residents benefitted from a roadside main because they don’t have pipe line running into their yards. Sometimes the pipe bore is left opened with water spraying away all the time. Because of action of these people, the water pressure reduced tremendously, thus causing many of us around to resort to using electric water pumps to get water in our storage tanks although people ask the same individuals to put a valve on their pipe.
The man’s reply was incoherent. Before the recent Budget presentation, Banks DIH increased sixty dollars per case of their beverages; go to a vendor and some of them charging sixty dollars increase per bottle, claiming Banks raised their price which gives them an additional profit of sixty dollars multiply by twenty three. After the Budget presentation, and in the month of December, prices went up on everything in a shop, citing VAT in electricity and water exceeding a certain amount.
I am no hypocrite to say I agree with the recent recommendations by the Finance Minister on his budget presentation. I am predicting that there will be an increase in the cost for icicles at schools or a reduction in the quantity, even ice. My conclusion is that there’s no good life as promised by this present administration.
Editor, since taking over the ruling of Guyana, this administration has been upping the cost for various things and from the budget presentation, they’ve put it in such a manner that you have to pay an increase for internet service. Over the years, I’ve complained numerous times about the embarrassing internet service the populace has to accept in Guyana. To date there is no change and sadly providers seem more unconcerned. Alantic Wireless Network is the most popular provider (based on my recommendation) in Zeelugt and many consumers asked me to check their service or computers to see if they are at fault.
Many of these people I would sometimes make use of their service and sometimes post stuff. For nearly a month now I’ve been trying to access yahoo mail which I use mostly to post my pieces to the media and I am unable to access it. On Friday 9th December, one of my in-laws went to renew his subscription after a two week break only to learn that he has to pay an additional one thousand dollars even though he wasn’t using the service for the past two weeks. They would consider it as being used and thus although he paid for the whole month, he will have access to the internet for two weeks.
One and a half hours after his service started back it was disconnected, I angrily called the office to query the reason only to learn that the area from Zeelugt to Parika is in blackout thus we cannot access internet. I then queried the charge fee of one thousand dollars, the poor service and asked about the days that their service is off (some months you lose five days). They do not give you back the lost days. The operator then said he’ll have to talk to their boss and get back to me. Half an hour after I received a call saying that the technicians wanted my address. I gave them and they came, even though they knew they can’t access the internet due to blackout. It’s a regular for them to blame the equipment at your house.
Does anyone care about what the society is enduring? The APNU+AFC’s first priority was to award themselves a HUGE salary increase. They enjoy free water, electricity, travelling allowances, duty free concessions, and huge allowances amongst others. They are busy expanding the jobless population, ignoring the Education sector and rewarding their close allies and telling us about ‘Green Economy. They purchase fruit juices from other countries, putting our farmers out who were making a living by providing locally grown fruits to our local beverage company.
Sahadeo Bates

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