The Budget debate has so far been disappointing

Feb 04, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The quality of most of the presentations during the Budget debate leaves much to be desired. On both sides of the House there were irrelevancies. Too many unnecessary sniping at each other, all of which suggest that more attention could have been paid to preparation for this debate.
The Budget speech of the Senior Minister in the Office of the President appears to have been the central focus of attention. But despite the marathon address undertaken by the person presenting the Budget speech, there is only so much which can be covered in such a presentation.
One of the central purposes of the speakers on the government side is to enlighten the House, and by extension the public, as to the policies and programmes which the government will be pursuing in the coming year and, at the same time, to give an account of each Ministry’s record of achievements in the preceding year.
The speakers on the government side instead focused heavily on criticising the record of the APNU+AFC. They did also respond to some of the criticisms made by the opposing side, at times using very creative language.
The Opposition did not do much justice to their own role. They were supposed to, not only be critical of the measures announced in the Budget but also to, propose feasible alternatives.
The majority of the Opposition speakers presentation were disappointing. The proposals which came forth, generally lacked substance and were not effectively justified. The call for example for a $100,000 minimum wage was bound to be met with criticisms as to what was APNU+AFC’s record in relation to this particular sum. In other words, you had a chance to raise the minimum wage to G$100,000 per month but instead raised taxes including on water and electricity.
The Opposition therefore walked right into a trap which they themselves set. The government side rightly picked them apart. The argument that savings from allocations could increase public service wages conflicts with the questioning of the capacity of the government to spend the sums proposed. The international financial agencies have long recommended that increases in public sector wages will undermine efforts to build capacity and competitiveness. It is one thing to question the government’s ability to spend its allocation. It is another thing to propose that a substantial sum be spent on boosting public sector wages.
But there was tremendous weakness in many of the presentations on the government’s side. Merely saying, for example, that the government has always catered for wage increases does not bring closure to the question as to what is in store for public servants in a year in which inflation is expected to be yet again another major challenge.
Education is in a mess and one of the better presentations emanated from the Opposition Shadow Minister for Education. This was a solid presentation which exposed serious shortcomings in the management of the education sector, and it is a presentation which should be taken seriously.
The Government’s strategy in defending its Budget seems to involve attacking the APNU+AFC’s record. This is being done however, at the expense of further expanding on the plans and programmes of the various Ministries for this year.
It is not enough to say that, based on a discussion with one player in the fish processing sector, the fish catches are improving. Processing of more fish by one fish processing plant does not mean that the fishermen have improved their yields. A more comprehensive assessment was needed, including the results on the long-awaited survey as to the cause of the decline in fishing catches.
There is equally a need to address the fundamental concerns of citizens. Apart from the measures announced to cushion and mitigate inflation, what is being done to ensure that prices in the markets decline? The increase in food prices, in particular, has been a heavy burden on consumers. It is not much comfort to hear about an increase in the income tax threshold placing more monies in people’s pockets. The majority of poor workers, particularly those in the private sector, work below the public sector minimum wage. The increase in the income tax threshold does not bring any relief whatsoever to the majority of shop workers who earn $60,000 per month for 12-hour workdays.
The Budget debates therefore were a bagful – not a barn full – of missed opportunities. The government side of the House in failing palpably to make a case for the Budget. The Opposition is wasting a wonderful opportunity to score heavily against what is a weak ‘bowling attack’ by the government.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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