THE Parliamentary Opposition in Guyana, comprising the APNU and the AFC, needs to develop a level of maturity and to manifest responsible actions, according to Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Juan Edghill.

The minister was adamant that, on a daily basis, the opposition continues to manifest “an attitude of infantile politics”.
Edghill expressed these sentiments in the wake of what he described as ‘a most regrettable’ state of affairs involving the seemingly deliberate attempt by APNU’s point man for finance, Mr Carl Greenidge, to refrain from making himself available to participate in the ongoing budget consultations.
Minister Edghill said too, that while he wishes not to come to assumptions because he has learnt in his lifetime to treat all men and their actions as honourable, of late, the utterances surrounding Mr. Greenidge’s absence from the budget talks can only be deemed unfortunate.
Reports have recently surfaced in the media suggesting that Greenidge’s absence from the talks have not been sanctioned by the APNU, nor has that body been aware that he was missing the meetings, based on utterances from Leader of the Opposition, Mr David Granger.
Asked about ongoing budget preparations, Minister Edghill said this year’s budget will see continuation of what was started in 2012. He said the government does not engage in hype, nor does it excite members of the public by saying things that the people want to hear, since the government has to be responsible in its actions.
He iterated that government can only make certain promises to the people when the studies have been completed and the evidence is there to support and show that the promises being made can be sustained by investments and revenue inflow.
Touching on recent statements made by leaders of the Alliance For Change and A Partnership for National Unity about cutting the budget, including allocations for the National Communications Network (NCN), Minister Edghill deemed those statements truly “unfortunate”.
The minister said promises of that nature coming “from such gentlemen” can only be spawned by two reasons: to create fear among the citizenry, or to bully the executive into acting in a certain way. He described those actions by the opposition as prejudicial, and reminded that the executive has the duty and role to write and present the national budget of any country.
He was therefore; quick to point out that going through estimates for budgets is not the way to starve any agency of funds, because those estimates provide for the adequate and proper allocations of funds to the various departments, and to ensure that all sectors are properly taken care of.
In 2012, and again in 2013, President Donald Ramotar has put in place systems and has created an enabling environment for consultations with the parliamentary opposition parties on the national budget. The government is being represented at the consultations by Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh.
Minister Edghill told the Chronicle that for the opposition parties to be mooting the slashing of a budget in 2013, after the Chief Justice would have ruled against a similar move in 2012, only shows that the opposition parties have not learnt any lesson from their past experience in this regard.