SO, it has happened once again; but not without warning, since A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)’s point man on Finance, Mr. Carl Greenidge, had promised a “nasty, bloody war” in Parliament as it relates to Budget 2014.Thus leading the Parliamentary Opposition’s anti-national charge, this spokesperson, who had coldly declared in 2012 that he has no apologies over similar actions, has once again stabbed the nation’s socio-economic development in its back. Both APNU and the Alliance For Change (AFC) have coalesced to have $37.4B slashed from the $220B budget for this year, thereby, allowing for a reduced sum of $182.6M.
Call it a mad dog’s rush to inflict injuries to a nation that has made miraculous progress from the almost death blow, which, incidentally, this Opposition chieftain had played a significant role in bringing about as Minister of Finance.
Notwithstanding the Judicial decision that would have deemed the cut to Budget 2012 unconstitutional, and the fact that such decision ought to be respected, pending an appeal, the argument that Parliament can dictate its own rules has again been offered as good reason.
How can such a line still be pronounced, in the face of the court’s decision? This latest socio-economic murder has been carried out by an irresponsible cohort that is in the flexing-the-muscle-mode, and still bent on power-play. Rationally, there can be no other good reason, except the intention of derailing the country’s development progress.
All the cuts have been made to projects that are slated to further deepen and advance the transformative process already underway. For example, the Hinterland Development Programme that is aimed at the socio-economic sustainability of Amerindian communities is a case in point. The cruel carving out of this $1.1B initiative is so gravely sickening, and without any just reason, that it has left the intended beneficiaries bereft of words to describe the pain of the almost mortal blow dealt their hopes for a continuation of interventions specifically designed to enhance their individual development, thereby redounding to the benefit of their respective communities.
It need not be emphasised that this particular strike — wholly unconscionable as were the previous two, and with a cumulative total of $37.4B as is the case in this instance — is a grievous blow to the government’s efforts at improving the livelihood of the Guyanese people.
How does one explain the murderous excision of $725M to the Poverty Alleviation Programme, and the $795M allocation for facilitating projects in accordance with the 6th and 7th Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF)? Both of these interventions are inextricably linked to lifting the levels of human living, with the implementation of vital social services for sustainability.
Is there any equal in any other developing country to this bestial act that can only be the work of representatives not honestly interested in the upliftment of the people and nation that they have so often professed to love? Absolutely not!
The combined Opposition has lived up to the threat, made via the APNU’s Greenidge, of a “nasty, bloody war” in reality that has been declared on the government and its socio-economic development policies for the country and its people.