PEOPLE’S Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP), Mr. Donald Ramotar said that the 2010 budget must be seen as a tool of modernisation, and another step in the direction of realising the vision of an advanced and all round development of the country.

He made this pitch during his presentation in the 2010 budget debate last Monday before the National Assembly.

“We must, therefore, all work hard to achieve the targets that we have set so that we can realise the dreams of our patriots who came before us, and the vision which we have set ourselves today,” he urged.

Congratulating the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh and staff for presenting a budget that he believes is the basis for advancing the country, he observed that it is being debated at a very important period of time in its history, with the 40th Republic anniversary, and also the 60th anniversary of the PPP.

“…the party that pioneered the struggle for Independence, and even for Republican status in our society,” he reminded.

Responding to several speakers from the opposition benches about operating under a constitution that was the 1980 constitution, he said, “They are completely neglecting to say that we have had a process in this country where we had set up a new constituent assembly.”

He argued that today, the President of Guyana has no more power than any other President in the world.

He also observed that since the budget came out, one of the interesting things to note is that the main stakeholders in the society “have not been saying anything negative about this budget”.

Ramotar said neither labour nor business have come out with any strong objection to this budget.

The PPP General Secretary also noted that the Caribbean Development Bank singled out Guyana for praise for the country’s economic performance in 2009 taking into consideration all that have been taking place in the Caribbean, and the world today, and giving the country high marks for the works that have been done with the economy.

“And I wish to contrast this mainly at a period of time when the People’s National Congress (PNC) was in office when we were expecting budget – it was always a time of anxiety,” he noted with persons not knowing where the taxes were coming from to hit them.

He said today, a kind of stability and predictability that is characteristic of the economy since the PPP/C took office, is being experienced, Ramotar insisted.

He said the 2010 budget in his view, is intended to continue to put in place programmes and plans to realise the vision of the PPP/C administration.

He also alluded to the opposition often criticising and claiming that the budget lacks vision to which he pointed out, “The budget is not a document for vision.”

He explained, “The PPP/C has established its vision in 1992, 1997, 2001 and 2006. The budget has plans to realise these visions, and from time to time emphasis might change, policies might change because we are living in a world that is constantly changing.”

He said therefore, it is expected that from time to time that the budget could change stressing, “But our vision to build a modern society in which all our people can enjoy a high standard of living, a society without poverty, where social justice and equal opportunity for all exist is still the main focus of the PPP/C government.”

He reiterated that vision doesn’t change with every budget since these are the things government has set for itself and working towards achieving, to which all of its budgets have been oriented towards, and can be seen in the expenditures in all the budgets since 1993.

He noted that there been a lot of criticisms about the Information Technology (IT) strategy of the government by the opposition benches, and the fibre optic cable by the administration.

“We were critical of the PNC government for creating the telephone company into a private monopoly,” he recalled.

“And if the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company would be the only company to bring a cable into our country that would be entrenching a monopoly in our country,” he noted.

He reminded, “The privatisation agreement that you went into has prevented us from going into a private company, therefore, if we are going to break the monopoly the only organisation and only force that can do that in our society is the Government.”

He underscored that it is very important to break this monopoly, and cited the example of the introduction of Digicel dealing with cellular service after which the rate of services were reduced among other benefits for consumers due to the competition that exists within the sector now.

He said, “We want to ensure that our children’s future will not be stymied by a monopoly” and to this end, assured that they are working towards ensuring that every school has a computer lab, and have opportunities to deal with the modern tools of society.

“I really cannot understand why the position has been so vociferous and so much against the Government spending on something that clearly has great benefits to our country at this point in time,” he put forward.

He alluded to the services being modernized such as health care and security chiding the opposition, “You criticise us and tell us that we should be producing more jobs yet you are opposing something that can create thousands of jobs in this society – it really beats me to what type of rational you are using in these types of opposition that you are making.”

He also noted that another area of modernisation that has been badly misrepresented in the House by the opposition is the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

“I think, sir, that we cannot only look at this from one point of view or so forth otherwise we will miss the big picture. In fact, that is the direction that the world is going at this point in time, and I believe that we should be congratulated for the vision in trying to be ahead of the curve in this case, and not lagging behind,” he expressed.

He outlined that hence Government is serious about bringing hydro electricity to Guyana, and working towards co-generation, and are investigating wind technology and even bio gas technology.

“I believe the time will come if countries don’t adopt a policy of dealing with low carbon type of development in the production of energy resources that there is quite possible that a time could come when countries could be sanction for not having these measures in place, and therefore, it is important that we continue to work in this direction, and continue to build the future generation,” he stated.

Also, he emphasised that modernisation not only speaks to new industries and new things but it is important to focus on modernising, too, on the traditional sectors, and in this regard, that is precisely what is happening in the sugar industry.
To this end, he said, “The problem that the sugar industry is being experienced is a problem of transformation that is taking place to make this society a modern society.”
Ramotar said he is surprised that some members of the PNC have taken up the position against many of things that the government is trying o do within the sugar industry, observing, that the PNC have many of the things in their manifesto such as modernising of the industry and value added.
“But obviously, sir, this is a classic case of opposition for opposition sake. No constructive opposition,” the PPP/C MP concluded.
He said the modernisation process has started with the building of the new Skeldon factory expressing, “I have no doubt that these temporary problems that Guyana Sugar Corporation is facing will be overcome, and the sugar industry will continue to make a positive contribution to the country’s economic and social life.” 
Alluding to the management of the economy in 2009, he stated, “…Because I think that this time the opposition was really struggling to find something to say to criticize the budget.”
He said taking into consideration the global challenges, Guyana still managed to record a fourth consecutive positive growth which must be seen in that context, and that it is a laudable achievement showing the prudent management of the country’s economy by the PPP administration.
Ramotar also made mention of a recent publication by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) entitled ‘Partners for Progress’ which paints a “great picture of how far we have come”. 
He also touched on the infrastructural developments which have had a very positive impact on the country’s development, and also took note of the social welfare programme which is seen as very important for economic development, particularly, when countries are in financial and economic trouble.
He maintained that the administration has transformed the country as far as governance is concern with accountability, transparency, and consultations across the country.
“But the problem with consultation is that my friends on the opposite side got a different view of consultation. Their view of consultation is that you must agree with them, every thing that they say otherwise if you don’t agree with what they say – it is not consultation,” he stated.