GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Opposition legislators Monday slammed the Guyana government over the measures contained in the GUY$1.146 trillion (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) national budget presented to Parliament last week, describing the fiscal package as “lopsided” and “uninspiring.”
Further, attorney Roysdale Forde, leading the debate, said that the fiscal package presented by Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh had fallen short in many areas and needed an inclusive approach to conceptualization and the equal and equitable allocation of resources.
“More of the same policies that allow unsustainable growth and lopsided development in a trickle-down economy. More of the same policies that facilitate structural discrimination and corruption, facilitated by the interplay by partisan politics and uncontrolled impulsive splurging of oil money by the incumbent government,” Forde said.
He said the Irfaan Ali government would continue bringing financial papers for large amounts of money during the year.
“The question that looms large on the minds of the citizens is which budget is the real one. Mr. Speaker, this sleight of hand where the government habitually and ritualistically underclaims the financial requirements and later seeks supplementary funds raises serious questions about the credibility of the initial budgetary figures.
“It leaves citizens and policymakers grappling with a financial sense of disarray, unsure of whether the government’s budgetary projections are genuine or mere placeholders, so to speak, for the eventual plea for more money,” he told legislators.
Forde, the shadow attorney general and minister of legal affairs, said that the potential misallocation of funds is a severe disadvantage of not having stakeholders’ consultation ahead of the 2024 budget.
“By excluding critical stakeholders such as community leaders and others such as labor organizations, municipalities, town councils, RDCs, and representatives of marginalized groups, the government is essentially sidelining the voices that could provide valuable perspectives on how to create a budget that is truly inclusive and responsive to the various needs of the population,” said Forde, adding that vulnerable groups got little or nothing in the budget.
“Mr. Speaker, assuming that this budget is the real one, the very core of this trickle-down economy is a contentious issue, that the government is ensuring unprecedented sums are given to a few at the top while giving handouts to the grassroots,” Forde said, noting that even when the government appears to be helping people experiencing poverty through its cash grants initiatives, those programs are also marred with irregularities and are not distributed fairly.
He said the increase in the income tax threshold by GUY$15,000 to GUY$100,000 as well as the GUY$3,000 increase each in Old Age Pension and Public Assistance amounts to GUY$100 per day comes at a time when the cost of living is increasing “exponentially.”
Another opposition legislator, Ganesh Mahipaul, said the government had not offered better salary increases for public servants.
Mahipaul said the government, while in opposition, had chastised the coalition administration of A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) for increasing the salaries of ministers.
But he said those salary increases were one-offs, and no other increase was given during their time in office.
He said when the new government came to office, a senior minister was earning just over GUY$800,000, but since 2021, that has been increased to over one million dollars, while a junior minister who was earning just over GUY$600,000 is now earning over GUY$800,000.
“Additionally, allowances totaling over GUY$800,000 bring the total monthly remuneration of Ministers to an astounding $1.8 million, and the very people who are receiving this salary vehemently criticized the APNU+AFC ministers, who were receiving a fraction of that figure.
“Yet we are expected to be grateful for the 6.5 percent increase which was taxed, and it was claimed that the public purse cannot afford more.
“While our dedicated public servants, disciplined men and women, teachers, doctors and nurses, the pillars of our nation are contending with the rise in the cost of living, government ministers sit comfortably in their offices receiving a fat salary,” Mahaipaul said.,
Another opposition legislator, Juretha Fernandes, accused the government of doing a poor job at handling the economy, the issues of indebtedness, poverty, and the perceived disregard for the working class.
Fernandes said the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has done little to improve the salaries of public servants despite raking in billions of dollars in oil revenues.
“Between 2015 and 2019, with GUY$1.2 trillion, the APNU+AFC administration increased the wages and salaries of public servants by 77 percent, without oil revenue. When this budget period ends, the PPP will have spent GUY$3.25 trillion, and to date, they have only increased public servants’ wages and salaries by 23 percent. With GUY$ 900 billion in 2023, the PPP increased public servants’ wages and salaries by a measly 6.5 percent, “Fernandes said.
She told legislators that the “measly” 6.5 percent increase in wages and salaries imposed on public servants is no significant benefit to the ordinary worker, who struggles to meet the rising cost of food items in the market.
She said to compound the situation. The government has landed the country in even more debt, putting forward a budget with a deficit of GUY$395 billion.
The opposition parliamentarian said that when the PPP/C took office in 2020, there was a total external debt ceiling of GUY$ 400 billion. Still, that figure has increased significantly due to the government raising the ceiling to allow for more borrowing.
“In this single one-year budget, the PPP will add a debt burden of GUY$1.8 million per every Guyanese household. To break it down further, they will add a debt burden of more than half a million dollars to every Guyanese.
“So, in an oil-rich economy, instead of creating a pathway to sustainable prosperity for Guyanese, the PPP has decided to shackle every man, woman, and child with a debt burden, and there seems to be no light at the end of this tunnel,” she told legislators.
and then 