As the nation’s Parliament  prepares for the important Committee of Supply

consideration of Budget 2013, the opposition’s tactic is beginning to take shape, gradually unfolding to fit an agenda that had already been decided, even before the presentation of the financial estimates.
Clearly, this is an opposition that is bent on undermining and, in the process,  destroying the livelihoods of the nation’s workers,  and the socio-economic fabric of the  nation. What it intends to prove by such an ill-advised and unpatriotic intention  is best left to the blinkered minds of its  power-crazed chieftains, who stand to be condemned for posterity.
Definitely, there has been no properly defined objections to Budget 2013, from the general opposition benches. In fact, it is noted that there were compliments from two leading spokespersons – Volda Lawrence and Amna Ally from  A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – but  who subsequently attempted criticisms that were without merit, or as it is  said in local parlance: ‘Talk for talk sake’. But of course, this fits into the traditional mould of general opposition politics of OPPOSING.
The question that must  however  be asked  is why should  this opposition, that promised to work in the best  interest of all  Guyanese, not support a budget that continues to provide benefits for all? And why must it threaten to effect cuts to these allocations, especially those for the   vital sugar industry, and  for electricity? Is it simply because it has an extra  seat, that it is continuing to misuse? There can be no  justifiable reason, that comes to mind.
Since sugar is  still a major economic earner for the nation, in addition to being the largest employer of a workforce of all ethnicities, it is only prudent that government ensures that this industry is assisted to overcome its current challenges. A government that has always represented Guyanese working-class interests, even all through its struggles against the Burnham dictatorship, and has continued this covenant  for the workers of this nation since 1993, would never turn its back on any segment of the local employment.
So, for the opposition  to effect cuts to this industry will mean the unemployment of  close to 120,000 persons, with untold  economic shocks for almost double that number of households. The social repercussions of such a reckless and heartless act, are too frightening to contemplate.
Continuing, the same line of reasoning applies  to threats of removing the subsidy from the Guyana Power and Light. The opposition must be reminded that the last increase in tariffs had been sometime around 2005 or 2007.This period was  concomitant with the rapid increase in the price  of oil internationally, that had begun to impact  heavily on the power entity’s fuel bill. It is an exponential  increase still felt, when the power company disclosed that it has been spending around 85% of its earnings on fuel purchase over a five-year period. One does not have to be an economist to understand the challenges that  such a significantly high  expenditure would pose to  such a key  entity’s daily operations.
But notwithstanding this reality, government  protected the consumer from any increase to their  domestic energy bill. And this is what Budget 2013 continues to do, by subsidising the  operations of GPL,  further protecting the nation from the likelihood of any extra charges.
So, the administration  continuing  very much  needed financial support to these two very important entities is not about “wasting funding” as Moses Nagamootoo  desperately tried to establish, during his response to Budget 2013. It is about securing the  daily well-being of the nation, a promise which the PPP/C government has once again kept via its 2013 Budget.
How can an opposition, that professed so much love and care for the nation’s workers, now seek to harm their livelihoods?