‘Budget of broken promises’ – Opposition blasts 2026 spending plan as ‘cash grab’ for PPP elite

Jan 27, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – Leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party and newly elected Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed, has condemned the 2026 National Budget as “top-heavy” and disconnected from the realities facing ordinary Guyanese.

Speaking after the budget presentation, Mohamed accused the government of prioritising massive infrastructure contracts over direct relief to citizens. “The budget reflects heavy infrastructural works which means hundreds of billions of dollars in contracts. This is the fastest way they can get their kickbacks.  Right away the people of this country they are not benefiting from this budget. This budget motto is putting people first but reflects a totally different theme.”

He stressed that the budget is the largest ever in the history of the country, yet the measures only reflect plans that will benefit the PPP, their ministers, their friends , their family and their favourites.  The leader of WIN party noted while budget stands at the GYD $1.558 billion, a large chunk will not directly go to the people. He estimates that 25 percent-30 percent of the budget will be going into the pockets of the PPP cronies. “For example the NDIA $81 billion allocated to the NDIA and I know so many projects for example where they  have to go and clean the canals the contractors wouldn’t even go and clean these canals and they are collecting the monies  to give the ministers  kick backs.”

Mohamed noted too that the government has failed to fulfill its promises to the people. “Irfaan Ali lied to the entire nation on his campaign trail. I can recall on the campaign trail I can recall in Lethem he told the gathering there that the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant, he is going to give them a $100,000 and $100000 for transportation totaling $200,000 per month.  And now, I heard Ashni announce $85 000 for 205,000 students approximately in total.”

“How can you lie to our children and to their parents, the mothers to 205,000 children [they] will now receive $85000 and he promised $ 200,000.” The opposition leader noted that the Ali administration also duped pensioners. He explained “Pensioners presently receive $41,000 a month. Now they giving pensioner $5000 more and everything is on the rise in this country. The pensioners will receive $46,000 per month we have a total of 96 000 pensioners. This doesn’t reflect the motto ‘Putting People First, ‘because if you truly care about people, you will give them what you promise them.” “He promised them $60,000 and we were expecting to hear that each pensioner will receive $60,000 per month and the $50,000 transportation grant, but Ashni announced $20,000, one-off transportation grant.”

Additionally, Mohamed noted that those differently able and single mothers on public assistance were also duped. “We have a total of about $50,000 persons receiving the public assistance. They used to get $22,000 per month and they only give them $3000 increase…so you tell me they don’t care about the people of this country. All they care about is to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars which is exactly what I said from the inception.” He explained too that government has no excuse for not delivering on their promise. “So why would you promise it in the first place. We have enough money so that everyone can live a comfortable life in this country. For example, from 2020 to now when the corruption with the Minister’s is exposed, their properties are worth billions of dollars. So, we have the money we just need to invest the money back in the country,” Mohamed said.

APNU

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) lead Member of Parliament Dr Terrence Campbell also called out the government of reneging on a key campaign promise to deliver a total of $200,000 to each school-aged child. Speaking on the sidelines to Kaieteur News following the presentation of the $1.5 trillion 2026 Budget on Monday, Campbell described the budget as “underwhelming” and said it failed to live up to the government’s own theme of putting “people first”.

“I thought the budget was underwhelming. First of all, it said it was putting people first, but we didn’t get that when you have social assistance moving from $22,000 to $25,000 when you have old age pension, moving from $41,000 to $46,000 those increases are inconsequential. It’s not going to help anybody,” Campbell said.

He argued that the government fell well short of the commitments made by President  Ali during the 2025 election campaign, particularly on cash grants for children and students. “I’m also concerned because the president’s promise that, Because We Care would have been $100,000 and that there will be a transportation grant of $100,000 and instead we got $60,000 and $20,000 way below what the president promised,” Campbell added.

On the campaign trail in August 2025, President Ali had announced that a re-elected PPP government would increase the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant from $50,000 annually to $100,000, along with a $100,000 transportation grant for students, amounting to $200,000 per child each year.

Moreover, Campbell criticised the absence of any adjustment to the minimum wage in the 2026 Budget, particularly for private sector workers. “Another thing that was not addressed is the minimum wage, nothing at all, especially private sector minimum wage,” he said.

Turning to revenue projections, Campbell questioned the government’s oil price assumptions, warning that they may be overly optimistic. “Now on the revenue side, the projection was, I think $59 a barrel for oil and my expectation is that, you know, the average price for a barrel of oil will be between $52 and $54 so we may be overestimating the revenue,” he stated.

Moreover, he also raised concerns about the billions more the government will be pumping into the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), noting the corporation’s persistent underperformance despite heavy state support. “We still have issues with GuySuCo. There’s still going to be a $13 billion subsidy for GuySuCo. There’s a target of 100,000 at GuySuCo. And they only, they barely did 59,600 tons this year,” Campbell said. “Just like a copy and paste budget, and not a lot that was visionary in the budget at all,” he added.  While acknowledging some positive elements, including measures related to the Development Bank and reduced taxes on four-wheel vehicles, Campbell said these did not outweigh what he sees as fundamental shortcomings.

For their part, Leader of the Forward Guyana Movement and Member of Parliament , Amanza Walton-Desir,  described the budget as unimpressive. “What we heard is the same old, some old. If you look at the budget for 2025 you will see that they are virtually the same. Look to see whether your life was better at the end of 2025. Then you will understand how much of an eye pass this budget is.” She said she is deeply concerned about the rising food cost. “When I listen to the paltry increase given to public servants and old age pensioners and children we are going to have a problem with hunger in this country.”

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• Amanza Walton-Desir, APNU, Azruddin Mohamed, broken promises, budget, Terrence Campbell

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