Finance Minister closes 2024 budget debates with focus on APNU+AFC’s failed promises

Jan 27, 2024 News

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Kaieteur News – Senior Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh closed the 2024 budget debates yesterday in the National Assembly, focusing primarily on the hypocrisy displayed by the Opposition over the last few days in calling for good governance as well as transparency and accountability.

Speaking to just about four Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) who remained to hear his presentation as well as his colleagues in government, Dr. Singh was keen to remind those in attendance, that it was the APNU+AFC regime that engaged in the most disgraceful and immoral attempt to derail democracy with its refusal to accept the 2015 General and Regional Elections’ results.

After engaging in a reprehensible attempt to produce false electoral results, Dr. Singh appeared repulsed that his Opposition colleagues approached the House over the past few days to regale the government about the virtues it ought to embody as well as share lectures on how the $1.146 trillion budget should be spent.

Dr. Singh said the presentations by the Opposition remind him of a few key proverbs in the Student’s Companion, a textbook used by primary school students. He said, “The first proverb is that ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating.’ It doesn’t matter how the pudding might look or smell or what you tell people is in the recipe of the pudding. Another proverb that came to my mind is ‘action speaks louder than words.’ No matter the fancy words that are uttered, what really matters are the actions that are implemented.”

His final proverb of reference was “talk is cheap”. Expounding on this he said, “We were regaled over the past five days with a lot of cheap talk coming from the APNU+AFC who regaled us with all sorts of grandiose plans and ideas. Had we not known their true nature, we might have actually been hoodwinked by these lavish promises that they didn’t implement when they were in government…”

The Finance Minister said it is important for citizens to remember the kind of creature that the Opposition is. In this regard, he reminded of a number of episodes where the APNU+AFC members while in government, showed that they were only using their power to act in the interest of one set of Guyanese.

In this regard, he reminded members of the House, of former Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence who had said that she was only serving her friends in the PNC. Referencing a Kaieteur News article dated November 30, 2018, Dr. Singh reminded that it was Lawrence who said, “The only friends I got is PNC, so the only people I gon give wuk to is PNC and right now, I looking for a doctor who can talk Spanish or Portuguese and ah want one that is PNC.”

Dr. Singh said he was literally stunned to see this same member of the House lecturing him on ensuring there is equitable distribution of Guyana’s oil resources as well as for the government to be prudent in its spending.

Turning his attention to other uncaring acts by the APNU+AFC regime, the Finance Minister said it is imperative that he reminds them of their track record in the sugar belt. In this regard, Dr. Singh noted that the sugar industry was almost destroyed under the former administration, noting that it allowed a case against UK-based sugar management firm, Booker Tate to fall through the cracks. Dr. Singh reminded that the case was filed by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) against the company for defects that were found on the Skeldon Sugar Factory which continues to underperform. Dr. Singh said the former regime should tell the nation why it neglected this case. He also reminded the House that the former government callously put thousands of sugar workers on the breadline while instituting no plan for modernizing this sub-sector, or any other in the agriculture industry.

Further to this, Dr. Singh noted that the National Development Strategy instituted since the 1990s, still holds relevance today, reminding that its plans entail a slew of transformative road network projects and energy reform with a focus on the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. The Finance Minister said government is in delivery mode regarding this strategy which still has an overarching influence over the budgets already passed, as well as those to come.

In conclusion, Dr. Singh said it is clear that the political Opposition is unable to understand the forward-thinking and far-reaching vision of the government and the extent to which it will improve the lives of the citizenry.

With the debates now over, Government and Opposition parliamentarians will gear for the consideration of the budget estimates on Tuesday at 10 am.

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• APNU+AFC, disgraceful, Dr. Ashni Singh, Finance Minister, regime

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