THE Alliance for Change party is firmly set in misleading this nation; this is evident in its contention that the cost of President Jagdeo’s travels is a whopping $1B even after the Finance Minister revealed the true state of affairs last week.
The leadership of that political party is dead set on stirring up controversy even if they have to manufacture figures and distort the truth.  As Dr. Singh pointed out in the Guyana Chronicle, 2010-02-12, the government’s total expenditure on overseas’ travel is disclosed in the 2010 national estimates, which are available during every budget presentation and at the disposal of all Members of Parliament.
The Minister further explained that the costs of travel for all government officials, including the President, is met through a specific line in the budget that finances these trips, the overall of which, for any one-year period over the past three years, is $200M .  Why then is the AFC dead set on their fantastic figure of $1B? 
The AFC party must also know that not all state visits are paid for by the country of the visiting Head of State; the host countries also stand these costs in some instances.  I would like to know if the AFC’s figure took this into consideration.
If the party is so sure that the costs of President Jagdeo’s travels amount to that much then they ought to inform the general public how they arrived at such a number. Give us the breakdown; tell it to the people in real, not imagined terms. 
I am sure many would like to know how they arrived at such a number.