Gov’t to stand with workers AFC wants to fire
THE government has expressed concern over the move by the opposition Alliance For Change (AFC) to cut funds in three of its ministries, which could see hundreds of employees in the government going home.
Their intention was noted in Notice Paper No. 49 intended for today, which was circulated to the House at yesterday’s sitting, in the name of AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan, with a motion entitled ‘Amendments to be moved in the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly to the Estimates of Expenditures for the Financial Year 2012.
The six days of budget debate came to an end yesterday, and the consideration of the 2012 Estimates of Expenditure in the Committee of Supply will commence today.
At a press conference by the governing side immediately after yesterday’s sitting of parliament, in the Parliament Buildings, the administration expressed its concerns with this move by the opposition.
Present were People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Members of Parliament Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, who is also the Acting Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce; Minister of Public Service Dr. Jennifer Westford; and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony.
Ali said, “We are meeting here basically as a result of Notice Paper No.49 submitted by the Honourable Khemraj Ramjattan, which is titled Amendments to be moved in the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly to the estimates of expenditure for the Financial Year 2012”.
Touching specifically his areas of responsibility, starting with the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, and in terms of contracted employees, he said the AFC is proposing that they cut the allocation for employment by more than 50 percent and that is by more than $27M.
“If this amendment is to see the light of the day tomorrow, it means that immediately more than 50 percent of the contracted staff in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce will be out of a job,” he noted.
“We have spoken of the importance of the  Bureau of Standards especially as we are seeking to advance our export potential. The AFC and Mr. Ramjattan is proposing that we cut this budget head by $49.9M. If we go this way, the programme of the Bureau of Standards would be affected tremendously and our ability to meet international standards and regulations through the advancement and development of our lab will be prohibited, he stated.
He recalled that the AFC spoke a lot in the budget debate about tourism development and how government should have put more money into tourism development, recalling, “Cathy Hughes (AFC MP) said that we have budgeted too small an amount for tourism development and here is it that Mr. Ramjattan is proposing that we cut the allocation for tourism development by almost 49 percent”.
He said he knows that this will be very disappointing news for the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) but “we will have to ensure that we rally together to disallow Mr. Ramjattan and the AFC from putting stumbling blocks in this sector”.
“If you go to industrial development under the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Ramjattan is proposing that we cut the allocation for industrial development by more than 50 percent, industrial development is directly related to the Guyana Manufacturers Association and is directly related to the agro-processing and other facilities. If we do this, we are going to be limiting and cutting our ability to expand the manufacturing sector by more than 63 percent,” he said.
He said it is the same trend with the Ministry of Housing and Water, with the AFC wanting to cut the security allocation by more than 50 percent.
“Contracted employees are proposed to be cut by more than 50 percent by Mr. Ramjattan. This would mean that more than 53 percent of the contacted staff of the Ministry of Housing and Water would be out of a job tomorrow if this proposal is to succeed,” he went on.
He said it is proposed that they cut Community Roads Improvement Project (CRIP) by $500M, noting that the CRIP programme is a foreign- funded CDB project, which basically are inflows coming into the country, and these are the roads being done in the 16 NDCs all across the country.
Under the Housing and Water Ministry in terms of infrastructure development and buildings, he said the AFC is proposing that they cut the $1.990B allocation by $1B, stating, “What that means is that 67 percent of our plans in advancing the housing programme would not succeed this year or will come to an immediate halt. This is the proposal of the AFC and Mr. Ramjattan that is to bring the housing programme to an immediate halt”.
Noting that the sewerage system in Georgetown poses tremendous health risks to the people, he said, the AFC wants to cut the programme by more than $150M, explaining, “What this would mean is tremendous  delays in the implementation [of] that project, which again is a foreign-funded project and has no budgetary implication for local funds.
“In a show of solidarity with workers, tomorrow, we are encouraging as many people as possible to wear white bands in solidarity with the workers. We will stand with the workers. We are a working-class party and we will never betray the workers,” he encouraged
Minister Dr. Anthony said they are proposing a 57.13 percent cut of his ministry’s budget, noting, “We were just confronted with this document….as you know, tomorrow we will begin the discussions of the estimates and apparently the AFC thought it best to submit a document to tell us how they are going to be cutting the budget.
He said his ministry’s estimates are going to be discussed tomorrow and subjected to these cuts.

“In sports, we have a National Sports Commission (NSC) where we have 45 people; and if tomorrow they have their way, all 45 of them would go home. Every single one of them because they have zero allocation here for the NSC. What madness is this?” he asked.
He said it means that people working at the National Aquatic Centre, the National Gymnasium, National Sports Hall, Lawn Tennis Centre, and Squash Court must go home, since they are all contracted employees of the NSC.
Additionally, he said it means all the people employed as coaches must go home, “Because the AFC, they say they are championing young people, now we are seeing their true colours, because they are going to vote zero for the NSC.
“This is real irresponsibility on the part of a political party. They are using the tyranny of one seat to vote down a budget for our young people of this country,” the minister exhorted.
He said they have an allocation to complete the development of the synthetic track at Leonora, which is going to be done in phases, but the AFC wants to cut that budget from a capital allocation of $451M to $200M.
“I don’t understand the rationale behind such thoughts that went into these cuttings. We have said publicly that we want to have the warm-up pool at the National Aquatic Centre and we have been working with the National Swimming Association; next year they want to hold the CARIFTA Games in Guyana and a prerequisite to holding those games is to have the warm-up pool. This government is putting the allocation to build the warm- up pool, and here it is they are going to cut it out of this budget. Do they really care for the sports people of this country? I don’t think so,” he said.
He said hundreds of employees in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Culture would have to go home if this is followed.
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Dr. Westford said the AFC has always been chiding the government for “not providing professionals and not training our workers, pointing out, “I never thought I would have lived to see the day that they are proposing cuts of more than 50 percent in each one of these ministries.
“I would like to know what really is their aim. My concern is that today we are seeing cuts for three ministries. We have 21 ministries, agencies and RDCs. Are we going to see the same trend?” she wondered.
“We will not, as a government succumb to this. We will stand with the workers even if it means that we, the members of the government, will have to subsidise them. We will not send them home,” Dr. Westford assured.
“I hope that better sense would prevail and that Mr. Ramjattan and his party colleagues will realise what it is they would have put here,” she expressed.