– Asks: ‘Why would the Opposition want to take us down this road?’
THE combined Opposition, of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), voted to cut $37.4B from the 2014 Budget, reducing it from $220B to $186.2B, in the National Assembly on Wednesday night.Commenting on it yesterday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon, at his first post-Cabinet press conference, since his resumption from sick leave, declared that the Opposition will have to explain their rationale to reduce what was Guyana’s largest Budget presented by the current Administration.
According to him, it would be “interesting” for the Opposition parties to state their reasons for reduction of the Estimates.
“The decision made must be explained,” he insisted.
Dr Luncheon cited reduction of the Amerindian Development Fund (ADF) and other allocations related to the hinterland, including the $185M for airstrips to improve access and those to Office of the President (OP) as major examples of lack of rational explanations.
As it relates to the latter, the HPS noted that the cuts to the OP provisions would hamper the functioning of the Executive, the highest office in the land.
On Tuesday, under the allocation for OP, the cuts included $245M for the Presidential Guard services; $95M for the provision of developmental and humanitarian aid among other initiatives; $10M for the Office of the First Lady; $73.5M for the Guyana Energy Agency; $119M for the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest); $122M for the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST); $17M for the Integrity Commission and $28.5M for the Office of the Commissioner of Information.
Dr Luncheon asked: “Why would the Opposition want to take us down this road?”
EFFECTIVELY EXPOSED
He contended that the action has effectively exposed the Guyanese people, whose lives would have been improved by the allocations made.
The HPS also mentioned the pre-Budget conversations and the comments on the Budget presentations made by the Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs).
Luncheon highlighted the fact that negotiations at the level of the Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Committee of Supply, which reviewed the 2014 allocations in detail, fell through because the Opposition failed to honour agreements made in the presence of Speaker of the House, Mr. Raphael Trotman.
Given that there is no solid rationale for such cuts, Dr Luncheon underscored the need for an “evolution” in the National Assembly and among MPs or there would be more gridlock and divisiveness.
LEGAL RECOURSE
Government MPs, minutes after the Parliamentary vote to pass a slashed National Budget, vehemently condemned the actions and indicated considerations of a legal recourse.
The other cuts, in addition to those for OP, were made on Wednesday night and last week Friday.
Wednesday night’s chopping included $18.5B for the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) initiatives; $450M for loans to University of Guyana (UG) students; $725M for the poverty alleviation programme; $7M for the different Rights commissions; $795M for the Basic Needs Trust Fund and $4M for support to non-governmental organisations and the private sector.
Among last Friday’s cuts were the Specialty Hospital ($910M); upgrading of Regional and District Hospitals, including Port Kaituma, Kwakwani, Linden, Bartica, Eye Surgery Operating Room at Linden, etc. ($360M); ambulances, all terrain vehicles (ATVs) and Boats ($42M); surgical equipment and instruments ($32M); the Amerindian Development Fund ($1.1B); other Amerindian Programmes such as ATVs, Tractors, etc. ($40M); the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) modernisation project ($6.6B); Civil Aviation ($50M); and Hinterland Airstrips ($185M).
Last year the combined Opposition cut the Budget by $31B and in 2012 by $21B, making this year’s cuts the largest since the commencement of the Tenth Parliament and third year of cutting under President Donald Ramotar’s term in office.
By Vanessa Narine