THE opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament Keith Scott yesterday launched an attack on miners and other operators in the mining sector, accusing them of destroying Guyana and the lives and dwelling of Guyanese.

During his presentation on Budget 2013 Debate, Scott claimed that miners continue to rape Guyana of its natural resources, while destroying waterways, fishes and trees.
According to an ‘INEWS’ report, he has also demanded firmer action by the authorities against miners.
Scott also called for more resources for the EPA and other agencies to effectively carry out their mandate.
Meanwhile, INEWS reported that the miners association representatives have reportedly taken the APNU MP to task, demanding an apology. The association reportedly intends to write APNU about the “unfounded accusations.”
Scott, in his presentation yesterday, also castigated the measures in the 2013 budget that had been announced to benefit more than 40,000 senior citizens.
Scott even suggested that the measure to assist elderly persons with the payment of bills owed to the Guyana Power and Light was, in fact, a bail out to the power company.
As such, he said that APNU could not support what he calls “a waste of assets”, an amount that has been allocated by the Ministry of Finance to support elderly persons.
Scott also took swipes at the government through its multi-year agreement with teachers that saw an across-the-board five-percent increase.
The APNU Member of Parliament told the House that government persuaded the teachers to accept the package but in the end persons that did not negotiate ended up with a better package.
“Why go through all the trouble to fight for an increase while those who did not fight also got the same,” he said.
“This Minister has to be a magician…he knows how to dispense handouts,” said Scott and he berated the measures announced in the 2013 Budget.
Scott called the 25 per cent increase to pensioners ‘a top up’ that should have been payable from January 1, as against May.
He said that since last year, APNU pointed out to the Government that the minimum a pensioner should receive is $15,000.
Turning his attention to the sugar industry, Scott suggested that the returns do no warrant the $1B transfer and suggested that the subsidy for the sugar industry is a waste of money.
He said that the same applies for GPL, a move that APNU cannot support.
“How can we support this wasteful disposal of the assets of our people,” adding that until a technical team is appointed to investigate and recommend a way forward at GPL “we cannot support this measure.”
Expanding on the disposable income to the tune of $590M to pensioners in the form of assistance on the payment of the utility bill, Scott told the House that “it is not a gift”.