…for the people whose dream can become a reality in this Guyana of ours
REVEREND Kwame Gilbert of the PPP/C defended government’s policies and programmes aimed at creating jobs and claimed that much of the criticisms of the national budget over the past few days have been unwarranted. He was making his contribution to the debate in the National Assembly on the 2011 budget which began last Monday.
Gilbert said he felt constrained to respond to some of the statements by PNCR member Dr. John Austin in the interest of ensuring that the records of the National Assembly were accurate about Guyana’s history.
Austin, in his presentation, had lambasted the government for not focusing enough on human development, as it is doing on infrastructure development.
“The budget of 2011, as is expected, has received overviews and criticisms, commendations and much has been said by many. The views that are more public are the ones that sometimes are more often responded to, and there are persons who, I believe, hold political ideologies and some political ambitions as well, and our tendency is to react and to respond to the most vocal of those commentators which very often, I believe, is a waste of time. In my estimation, the intent is not necessarily the pursuit of clarity or truth or information, but mostly seeking for an element of fault or a diabolical intent in the financial roadmap of the government,” he said.
“There is a saying that a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. If faults are the only thing we look for, faults will be the only thing we will see. And while I must commend the Honourable Dr. Singh for his diligence and his astuteness in the preparation and presentation of the budget, I want to go further and congratulate him on his adroitness in the fiscal management of Guyana’s economy. Sir, to the critics, the 2011 budget will not pass the test of perfection and I think, Sir, that no one on this side of the House is purporting that this is a perfect budget. But the question that begs to be answered is not whether this is a perfect budget, but it is whether, under the present circumstance, given our available resources, are we managing the economy well? Sir I say yes,” he said.
“So I am hopeful…that this debate would not become burdened down by the miniscule views of would-be political pundits, who very sadly underestimate the intelligence of the Guyanese people. While this debate is about seeking the approval of this House for the estimates for the public sector and the budget for the financial year 2011, the real impact of this budget cannot really be appreciated if it is considered in isolation of the overall trajectory of the government,” he said.
“We have repeatedly heard from members of the Opposition that the emphasis more often must be on human development and not on infrastructure development. Sir, the allocation that we have observed and the quantitative increase that we have seen over the past three years is a clear indication that the priority of human capital development is high on this government’s agenda,” he said.
Adding that life expectancy rates have been improving, Reverend Gilbert said that should the Good Lord tarry and the present trend of development continues, “we could all look forward to seeing our three score and ten or four score. That, Sir, is an indication that people are living longer, regardless of what is purported.”
Turning to criticisms of the budget to do with job creation, he said in good governance it is not as much a responsibility of the government for job creation as it is about providing for public safety, national defence, basic education, public health, transportation, infrastructure development and the creation of an environment in which the real engine of growth and job creation, the private sector, may thrive.
He said it is interesting that some of the presidential aspirants are promising to do some of the very things that the present government is doing, should they get into office. “[Which would suggest that there is something that they see that is right, that is worthy of aspiring to…the question therefore is from whence have come these accusations [on job creation]?” he asked. He said there is no country that he knows of in which unemployment is not an issue. The question is what we are doing with the resources we have,” he said.
Government, he said, has a responsibility to plan deliberately, strategically, and not necessarily in response to pressure, to create an environment to foster the climate that encourages foreign direct investment.
Illustrating the environment that the government has created, Gilbert spoke of ‘Patsy’, a 57-year-old woman who exists in real life, but whose identity he sought to protect.
“Patsy worked all her life in the public service. She is a single mother, raised her children on her salary all by herself. Today, Patsy works and provides [for her children and herself]. She bakes some of the best roti and puri you could taste. She has been able to establish small contracts with individuals who have been able to take stuff from her over time. She has been able to build up a clientele. I remember her calling me a few months ago saying that she had difficulty accessing a loan because of her age and that she needed a co-signatory. On New Year’s Day, Patsy invited me to pray to bless her completed home. Complete, Sir, with patio and purple blinds. She is living in her own home,” he said.
He knows that she has been moving from apartment to apartment for a long time in the struggle to keep her family together. “But tonight, she is living in her own home and she is an ordinary person,” he said. “This budget is for ordinary people, the people whose dreams can become a reality in this Guyana of ours; and I therefore commend this 2011 budget for passage in the National Assembly,” Gilbert said.