MIXED signals from the political opposition, along with resort to threats, which have been the “hallmark” of its responses to the 2013 Budget, so far, have been deemed counterproductive by Cabinet, Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon reported yesterday. Speaking at his usual post-Cabinet media briefing at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, he said, however: “Clarity has descended on the House surrounding the Opposition’s intention towards the 2013 Budget.”
The responses were counterproductive, particularly in the face of the practically universal acclaim of the 2013 budget. “So it was Cabinet’s contention that the budgetary estimates and the debates would be an acid test to the extent to which the parliamentary opposition would now have to move beyond threats…to concrete actions.”
Luncheon said it was clear that the Opposition had little of substance on which to oppose the budget. “Their threats and petty rejoinders, to which they resorted in the media, were now going to be put to the acid test.”
He noted that the Speaker’s indulgences last Monday caused one day of debate to be lost and that his subsequent ruling merely opened the door for more enlightened considerations about Opposition cuts to the budget.