– ‘Opposition position not grounded in any logic or reason’ – Finance Minister
FINANCE Minister Dr. Ashni Singh has described the move by the combined opposition in cutting the 2012 budget as “promoting [a] narrow partisan political agenda”, and he has strongly condemned their “display of bullyism and political grandstanding”. He spoke to the media in an invited comment on Thursday evening, just after the combined opposition parliamentary parties had demolished the 2012 national budget by cutting significant programmes, including more than $18B in projects under the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which has received widespread national support and international acclaim.
Minister Dr. Singh said the opposition took a position “not grounded in any logic or reason, but [was] instead motivated solely by political considerations”.
Alluding to the LCDS, Dr. Singh asked, “What justification could there possibly be for challenging and questioning the LCDS projects?” He reminded that those projects were all nationally known, and had benefited from widespread national consultation; and recalled that the LCDS itself was endorsed by the National Assembly in December 2009.
He noted that, today, because the political opposition enjoys a majority of one, it has turned around and refused to approve those projects, after the LCDS had benefited from national consultation and unanimous confirmation, approval, and endorsement in that very House.
“…you have the opposition turning around and withholding its approval of the LCDS projects. So I think today we saw the irresponsibility of the opposition at its extreme. There is no justification whatsoever for any of those cuts; but even more so, to cut LCDS projects is the height of absurdity, and I believe the opposition has shown its hand here,” he insisted.
“This is not grounded in any reason, or any logic, or any rationale; this is sheer political might and political bullyism, and the opposition, like I said, has exposed its hand completely. There can be no justification whatsoever for the position taken, and I must say that we continue to condemn the irresponsibility shown,” Minister Singh declared.
He iterated that the combined opposition has withheld allocations for entities that employ people, pointing out: “You have hundreds of people that are employed by several entities, and callously, the opposition withholds its approval. I want to condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the wielding of this slender majority of one for what can only be described as promoting a narrow partisan political agenda; and it was the most vulgar display of bullyism and political grandstanding, and I want to condemn it,” Guyana’s Finance Minister plaintively declared.
He said government was focused on the task of national development when he noted, “We are guided by the constitution and the law, and we will continue to be guided by those. We continue to exercise the function of executive government, and we will continue to do so in the interest of the people of Guyana. We have a lot of work to do, and we are committed to continuing doing that work.
“We have always said we are open to dialogue and discussion, and we remain open to dialogue and discussion; but I will say that this kind of behaviour does not inspire a lot of confidence when it comes to the question of whether the opposition is sincere about national development,” Dr. Singh disclosed.