H@RD TRUTHS BY GHK LALL – Budget 2024 – my hopes

Jan 14, 2024 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

Kaieteur News – Budget Day is tomorrow. In a country bustling with some much activity, standing on the cusp of so much, having in hand so much more (no I am doing public relations work for Alistair Routledge), this should be a day of high anticipation and excitement for all Guyanese. Especially those who conclude that the oil wealth is there, but it is not for them. Still, I encourage my fellow Guyanese at the bottom of the economic barrel to be watchful, be involved, be strong, and not surrender to despair. I urge them: pay attention to the 2024 budget, for there could be something in there. No matter how minor or maagah, it is still something from this fantastic wealth. I readily admit that the greedy foreigners take the biggest share, and then the beastly Guyanese ruling group and their cronies grab the next best pieces for themselves. What has been left so far in record budgets has been the paltry, mangy, and ugly.

GHK Lall

We have had record budget after record budget. The contractor class (PPP corruption camouflage) has snared hog, cow, and duck. Check the numbers. Those billions don’t lie. They award it to themselves, and then share it among themselves. Guess who has been left out? Billions here and billions there for everything under the sun, and down-at-the-heels Guyanese waiting, wishing, hoping for some word about $25,000. At today’s prices, that is a barrel and a half of oil per Guyanese family yearly, which is very rich. I thank President Ali for his generosity. From my perspective, many mistakes have been made, but it was more about refining the method to the seeming madness than about addressing the many budgetary mistakes. For the more that is put out for infrastructure, the more the sweet opportunities to pull off a bank robbery here with that procurement, and a train robbery over there with that road.

Now for the 2024 budget. My first prediction is a record one, hands down. The second is that the contractor class will be a runaway winner (again). The third is that the emerging defense establishment will come into its own: the first symbols of Guyana’s military-political complex. Fourth, the Office of the President, meaning less the office, will double down from GY$5 billion to GY$10 billion for standby funds. In America that is called a slush fund. The CIA calls that the Black Budget. Whether OP or CIA, I have an unprintable word for such. Fifth, there will be some money to keep the indigenous quiet, some to keep the youths properly aligned, and some to fund the management of naysayers, dissenters, and parasites. Regarding how the medicine man will present these is just hours away.

Somewhere along the line, there will be something for the bottom feeders of Guyana, aka the ‘Great Unwashed.’ Cost-of-living relief is on the way, so I hear, with Christmas for the masses in January. What will it be? Some cash for the kids, so that some more stealing can occur. Some pittances for pensioners, which I believe is already settled. The monthly increase is the cost of the tissue that Alistair Routledge blows his nose into; one sheet of Kleenex equals one month increase for one pensioner. Why give them more? To buy what? I can’t wait to absorb this so-called cost-of-living relief. It might take some sort of socialist turn: planned markets, price management (not controls): return to some form of GMC, give them some low-cost goods and greens, and it will be more than made up elsewhere. If anybody is thinking tax relief, think threshold and no more. Dese guys just mean to keep Guyanese on a thin string and dependent.

I think that moneyman Singh would have put his last two budgets side-by-side for a postmortem. Where were the wrong priorities emphasized? Where should get less, who should get more. Cut this crap out about multiplier effect and all that book business: trickledown is kicking down and keeping down. Present a package that gives citizens sustained relief, comrade doctor. Slim down a bit on building and give the poor people some financial ‘builders.’ There would still be enough billions for the boys to have a feast and still plenty leff to teef and grease the upper chambers of the ruling apparatus, plus the machinery that presides over and processes these things. Don’t worry about what I know. Just eavesdrop on the conversation of ordinary Guyanese and there is a directory of the persons of interest in Guyana, starting with the Cabinet. Just as how the media is being used to demonize and criminalize conscientious Guyanese, so national budgets, Mr. Scholar, are seen as a tool of oppression. And, naturally, political collections.

Go ahead. Prove me wrong. Make me eat crow. Make this budget different, boss. Make meaningful provisions for the masses of Guyana. It can be done, as there are enough resources. Show us how caring and considerate this government is. Don’t worry about those with their charts, graphs, and tables; they are looking for a big job. I am looking for some dollars (not tokens) for the small Guyanese. Make the 2024 budget a song of joy for them. They are Guyanese, not Venezuelans. There is so much even Venezuelans could get their slice. I hope that’s not treasonous. Shalom.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)