STRESS BUDGET

Feb 04, 2026 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Last Monday (26th January 2026), the Government of Guyana presented a $1.558 trillion National Budget under the APNU’s manifesto theme “Putting People First.”

The government has repeatedly promised national transformation through production. However, as output expands, inequality rises. Philosopher Rawls argued that “progress is only moral when it benefits the least advantaged first.”

This budget must, therefore, be judged not by its size or rhetoric, but by whether in a tangible way it is able to reduce the pressures under which Guyanese live. There is one issue that affects every Guyanese and which the PPP budgets consistently refuse to confront: STRESS.

While personal experience makes citizens keenly aware of this threat to their livelihoods, it was Sir Hilary Beckles who recently reminded us that for over 300 years enslaved Africans endured unimaginable stress, malnutrition, and physical exhaustion. First, under slavery, then under the brutal cynicism of colonialism. Those conditions did not vanish; they evolved. Yet no budget submission from this government has treated STRESS as a health issue, an economic issue, a social issue, or even an environmental one. Despite boastful language about care and compassion, Guyanese feel marginalised and abandoned amid the glitz and glamour of oil wealth, left with quiet despair, hopelessness, and a longing for relief that remains invisible in fiscal planning.

The budget is a management tool ued for planning, implementation, monitoring, and control, and it is against the background of the past five years that the 2026 Budget must be assessed. If it truly puts people first, it must first reduce STRESS by securing access to life-sustaining resources. Two such resources are water and food.  This discussion, therefore, focuses on water supply and sanitation. From 2022 to 2025, the government reports investing approximately $88 billion in the sector, aimed at expanding access, improving quality, and easing the burden on households already paying for water. No one disputes these objectives. But using the government’s own data and basic input-output measures, the conclusion is unavoidable: the spending has not relieved stress; in many communities, conditions have worsened.

Two metrics expose the failure. First, value for money. Government investment in water and sanitation increased by 191 percent, yet the measurable return in service delivery improved by only 12 percent, representing a 62 percent decline in value. Lavish spending without commensurate outcomes is not compassion; it is financial violence against taxpayers.

Second, per capita consumption of water and sanitation services has consistently declined since 2021, despite record spending. Access remains sporadic, water quality is poor, and many households treat tap water at their own expense out of necessity. These outcomes corroborate the warning of Guyana’s development partners that approximately 41 percent of public investment is lost to waste and incompetence. Something is fundamentally wrong in the sector, and the 2026 budget gives little reason to believe that more money will produce different results.

This pattern of rhetorical confidence masking institutional failure reappears in the Minister’s claim, made in paragraph 1.3 of the 2026 Budget Speech, that “we consolidated our domestic institutions and returned our country to global respectability.” The government must be made to tell the people which democratic institutions investigated the allegations of misconduct against senior government ministers. It must also explain which institution is investigating allegations of drug trafficking involving a senior police officer and other Guyanese sanctioned by the United States Government.

The people of Guyana are still waiting to hear which democratic institution solved the murder of “Paper Shorts,” explained the death of Adriana Younge, or accounted for over USD 2 billion in undeclared gold leaving the country. They are also entitled to an explanation of what is “respectable” about so many public officials and their family members having their US visas revoked. Respectability is not declared; it is demonstrated through accountability, transparency, and justice. Until natural resource wealth visibly reduces stress, improves basic services, and strengthens institutions rather than protecting power, “Putting People First” will remain not a governing principle but a promise competing with reality.

Regards,

Hon. K. Sharma Solomon

Member of Parliament

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• APNU, budget, Letters, National Budget, stress

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