Hinds highlights gaps in budget

Feb 06, 2026 News

…urges govt to slash GOAL funding in half, hike public servants pay

(Kaieteur News) – Member of Parliament Dr. David Hinds on Wednesday during his budget debate presentation highlighted the gaps in the budget in relation to public servants and the University of Guyana, even as he urged a reduction of the allocation to the GOAL programme and hand it to the country’s premier tertiary institution.

The politician made it clear that he was not interested in condemning the budget and commended the Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh on putting it together, as he deemed it not an easy task, and persons who have experienced putting document together know of the technical and intellectual skills that go into it.

Dr. David Hinds

“…we also commend the public servants who helped to put the budget together, many of the ministers talk about their staff, but have we thought that those public servants who helped to put this budget together do not see themselves in that budget?” he questioned.

Dr. Hinds highlighted that these very public servants have no place in the 2026 budget, with the minimum wages for them being $102,000 and the private sector standing at $60,000, it is surprising that in a $1.5 trillion budget provisions were not made for them, he said. The MP urged the government to put the public servants first.

Hopping over to tertiary education and the University of Guyana (UG), he reminded the House that he is an educationist, a product of education like many others in the House. Looking at UG which he said was called the ‘Jagan Night School’ in the early days he questions if the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), the party which Dr. Cheddi Jagan was a part of is running the risk of turning UG into a night school. “Oh my god. We spend billions of dollars paying overseas universities for this GOAL scholarship while depriving our university of funds. Can the University of Guyana, I know the University of Guyana can provide some of those degrees that the GOAL scholarship is sending our students abroad for?” Dr. Hinds lamented. To the end, he urged the government to slash the funds allocated to the GOAL scholarship program in half and give those resources to UG.

In this year’s budget government has allocated a sum of $183.6 billion to support the education sector this year, with a portion of $14.5 billion budgeted for UG and $5.8 billion for the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL). During his budget presentation, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh noted since the government abolished tuition fees for UG from 2025, the number of applications to pursue higher education at the institution increased significantly to over 26,000 for the academic year 2025/2026, compared with 17,800 in the 2024/2025 period.

In recognition of the high demand for access to UG programmes, the minister said that this year some $14.5 billion has been allocated to finance its ongoing and expanded operations. As it relates to the GOAL programme, the Senior Minister said that with 10,805 scholarships awarded last year, this year to support the programme they have set aside a $5.8 billion allocation

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budget, David Hinds, GOAL, public servants, University of Guyana

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