THE last-minute activity regarding cuts to the Guyana Redd + Investment Fund (GRIF) in the 2013 national budget, and the new motion by APNUs Carl Greenidge to cut funds for the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) are against the development thrust of the country, according to Finance Minister Dr Ashni.
He reiterated that “the cut being

proposed by Greenidge to the CH&PA is much like so many of the other cuts that he has proposed.  Greenidge proposed cuts to the Specialty Hospital, Sports and Art Development Fund, BIT and GPL and now CH&PA. There is a constant theme running through all of these, these go to the core of development,” the minister explained during a programme on the National Communications Network (NCN).
The Board of Industrial Training ( BIT), trains thousands of young, disadvantaged youth every year and the CH&PA has an important mandate to develop the housing areas, he observed.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds who also appeared on the programme, expressed concern over the cuts earmarked for GRIF.  “That is of big concern to me, because we look to it to bring cheaper electricity in the future. I hope that by the time it comes up better sense would prevail. As we know this is money that we have earned…in our course of avoiding deforestation and degradation, utilising our forest in a sustainable way and this is payment for environmental services. I think this is a very important model for the world as a whole and I hope better sense will prevail,” the Prime Minister stated.

Public pressure
Meanwhile, Dr Singh stated that the withdrawal of the proposed cuts to the security sector was due to the recognition by the Opposition of public pressure which saw them bowing to it.
“Any attempts to cut allocations to the security sector would have met with a howl of rage from the people of Guyana,” Dr Singh stated. He pointed out that, “they recognised that they would have been in an indefensible position. In fact, the mere attempt to cut the citizens security programme was met with disbelief by the people of Guyana… The people will not accept a cut to the security sector of Guyana, and they recognised the political folly that they would have been committing and the political perils they would have faced,” he noted.
“I hope that they have received the message loud and clear from the people of Guyana, who have spoken, and I hope that they will not persist with the highly unpopular and strongly anti-development future cuts they are considering within the next few days,” he stated.
PM Hinds echoed this hope, observing that seven years of continuous growth against other countries in the Region meant that Guyana must be doing something right. This fact, he said, should urge all Guyanese to support the budget and the continuous growth and development of the country.
The Finance Minister had noted the two significant events which preceded the cuts to the estimates. The first was the unprecedented three days and a weekend delay before the consideration of the estimates and the subsequent debate on whether the National Assembly has the power to cut the estimates or not. The debate delayed  consideration of the estimates by yet another day.
Minister Singh observed that both occasions saw the Opposition disregarding Government’s stringent objections and arguments and the consideration of the estimates began with the first four cuts to critical entities: the Specialty Hospital; Guyana Power and Light; GINA and NCN.
Observing that there were no questions left unanswered about three of the agencies that were cut, there was a deafening silence on GINA even as the allocation was cut along with the others. Minister Singh deemed this action as one with a pointed absence of commitment to development.
Meanwhile, PM Hinds said government remains committed to the measures set out in Budget 2013 which target the well- being of Guyana’s peoples.
He condemned the cuts to GPL pointing out that the funds withdrawn were those which enabled the application in Guyana, of the fourth lowest electricity tariff in the Region. The funds also allowed Government to fulfil its mandate to maintain and expand the supply of electricity to the nation.
The Prime Minister said he remains perplexed on how to address the situation and rhetoricaly queried: “To increase tariffs; to supply less power or to invite shareholders to get on board the power company which would mean no more subsidising costs for GPL’s customers.”
Dr Singh observed that the stark reality is that the only alternative could be an increase in the tariffs and more blackouts.
The two panelists also addressed the cuts already applied. On the cut to the Specialty Hospital, Dr Singh pointed out that it effectively prevents ordinary citizens from accessing specialised health care which is normally only accessible out of Guyana at prohibitive costs.
He also drew the nexus between the leader of the AFC and the bidder who lost the contract to build the hospital. This bidder, Fedders-Lloyd of India has been acknowledged by Khemraj Ramjattan as his client.
The cuts applied against NCN and GINA were termed an attack on press freedom and the attempt to remove funding from the Office of the First Lady was seen as an attack on women’s rights.