Opposition on a campaign of ironies and contradictions

Opposition on a campaign of ironies and contradictions – Ronald Bulkan

Dec 09, 2018 News

The Opposition’s strategy to win over supporters for their criticisms of the APNU/AFC Coalition Government and its budget constitutes a series of ironies and contradictions, according to Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan.
He said that in their criticism of the budget as “tone-deaf”, the Opposition MPs are deliberately attempting to undermine the empowerment of the various local government constituencies.
He referred to the campaigns held during the recent Local Government Elections, when the PPP/C promised “No new taxes”, and questioned where the money would come from to work towards “better infrastructure including: Roads, drainage, bridges, and maintenance of recreation facilities, etc,” which were also heavily touted by the PPP/C leading up to LGE.
The Minister asked, “How much [more] divorced from reality can we get? Every citizen of this land is aware that the major constraint to councils delivering quality services is the limited resources at their disposal.”
Bulkan stated that prior to the Local Government Elections and the convening of a council to deliberate on the community interests and priorities, the candidates were emphatic that they will not be doing certain projects because they are in receipt of instructions from the PPP/C leadership at Robb Street “not to exercise their constitutional right to autonomy and to develop their own programmes.”
He stated that the difference between the APNU/AFC Coalition and the PPP/C is that his government is not inclined to instruct duly elected representatives of communities.

Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan.

He further stated that the PPP/C campaign promises of “Citizen Participation”, “Greater Accountability” and “Community Involvement” were very ironic, coming from a party that oversaw the non-holding of Local Government Elections for 22 years.
Bulkan said that the budget provides a total of $39.322 billion for Capital Expenditures for the regions, representing an increase of approximately of 16 percent on the 2018 allocation.
He explained that there have been increases for every region and in every sector i.e. public health, education, infrastructure, public infrastructure, agriculture and administration.
He further stated that the regional Agricultural Programme is of particular significance, and is new to regions. He said that it will stimulate agricultural production, aquaculture and job creation.
He also made specific reference to the Plans of Action for Regional Development (PARDs) which are for grassroots, consultative-led regional development, with interests accounted for by regional democratic councils.
According to Bulkan, the provisions included in the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Act No. 15 of 2013 and the Local Government (Amendment) Act No. 5 of 2015 reduce the minister’s role, allowing for greater management of Local Democratic Organs (LDOs) by the elected representatives.
As a result of these provisions, municipal councils are no longer required to submit their annual budget (income and expenditure) for ministerial approval.

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