Govt. passes $55B supplementary budget amid parliamentary protest by Opposition

Jul 28, 2026 News

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…PM says activity irresponsible, reckless

(Kaieteur News) – Amid loud chants for the resignation of two sitting ministers of government, a $54.9B request for supplementary funding was approved in the National Assembly on Monday afternoon.

As the first business on the agenda, Financial Paper Number One of 2026 to the tune of $54,889,259,163 was approved without any scrutiny from the opposition benches. Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) were at the time protesting in the dome of the Arthur Chung Conference Center (ACCC), Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown demanding the resignation of Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill and Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, Deodat Indar.

As the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs concluded prayers and attempted to move to messages from the President, the opposition MPs bounced out of their seats, and began calling for the resignation of Edghill and Indar.

The activity was met with silence by the government side which did not respond to any of the criticisms from the opposite side regarding the tragic loss of lives on July 18 when the MV Barima sank off Guyana’s coast. To date 73 persons have been confirmed dead, 76 have been rescued and dozens are still unaccounted for.

With a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to soon commence to investigate the circumstances of the disaster, Opposition MPs banged on desks, circled the dome of the ACCC and shouted for the ministers to resign to allow for a credible probe of the tragedy. The MPs held placards calling for the ministers to resign while some wore images of victims on their clothing. Their efforts did not stop the Speaker of the House, Manzoor Nadir from proceeding with the Financial Paper, as each agency got approval for additional resources.

In an invited comment, Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed told Kaieteur News that the move was a demonstration of utter “carelessness” by the government side. “They don’t care about the people of this country. I was surprised when we started to protest in the Assembly how these ministers had smiles on their faces. Its like business as usual, nothing happened. They were regarding Edghill.”

Mohamed said today’s activity should have prompted the immediate resignation of the ministers over the tragic boat accident. Instead, the Opposition Leader insisted, “They just come to this Parliament to get the $55B for more corruption. This money is everything for the PPP. They don’t care about lives. They don’t care about the poor people of this country.”

Meanwhile, for his part, Prime Minister, Mark Phillips described the opposition-led protest as “irresponsible, a reckless behaviour by the Opposition, childish, immature.”

When asked for his views on the calls by opposition MPs for the ministers to step down, pending the outcome of the investigation so as to avoid any prejudices, the PM said, “No, no, no, that’s not what they were calling for. They disrupted the house today. Regardless of their chants they disrupted the house.”

When asked if he believes the ministers remaining in office can influence the investigation in any way, he responded, “No they will not influence the investigation because this is an independent, internationally selected people who will be on this Commission of Inquiry. Everybody is outside of Guyana…this is not a departmental investigation that was ordered by the minister. This is the president using the Commission of inquiry Act and order an independent investigation that is staffed by internationally recognised and respected experts.”

In a brief invited comment for his reaction to the protest, Minister Juan Edghill told this newspaper, “I have repeatedly said I will speak about this matter at the appropriate time.”

Minister Indar did not respond to an invitation to comment on the protest action for him to resign.

The supplementary budget includes $19 billion more for the controversial Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project in Wales, under the office of the prime minister. The financial paper explains that the additional funds are to “facilitate an accelerated work programme.”

The request for more financing to support the project comes after some $10 billion was allocated in this year’s budget. This request was the largest sum approved on Monday.

In addition to the prime minister’s office, the Ministry of Agriculture got approval for $4.5 billion more for the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA); $8.5 billion more for the Ministry of Public Works; $496.3 million more for the Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation- specifically for coastal water supply and maintenance of hinterland and coastal airstrips.

Meanwhile, the second largest chunk of the supplementary provision went to the Ministry of Housing- some $17.5 billion to” facilitate an expanded work programme”.

The Ministry of Health has also received $337.9 million more to facilitate rental of buildings while the Ministry of Home Affairs obtained approval for $60 million in additional resources for an accelerated work programme.

The approval of the additional resources for the GoG has increased this year’s budget to a staggering $1.613 trillion or approximately US$8 billion.

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• Ashni Singh, opposition, protest, resignation, supplementary budget

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