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Those who have been following this year’s budget debate will know that the Government took pains in explaining that the GPL subsidy cut would result in increased tariffs to the consumer and pleaded with the opposition to reverse their decision in the interest of the consumer.
But the Government’s pleading was to no avail and therefore the description of their action by the Finance Minister as being “unconscionable” is most apt.
The argument by the Opposition that they want to see GPL better managed is pure “poppycock” and is only a “Trojan Horse” to further a latent agenda of subversion and stalling progress.
The game plan of the Opposition is crystal clear. They are fully aware that the subsidy cut would force GPL to increase tariffs which is what they want because they would use it as a rallying point to engineer street protests and obviously blame the Government for the increase.
In this regard, one Opposition party has already been reported as saying there will be unrest if the proposed increased tariffs are implemented.
In addition, they are bringing pressure to bear on the government through the budget cuts so as to have leverage to wring political concessions which are unrelated to national issues. The leader of one Opposition party has actually said this.
The Leader of the Opposition, David Granger, has also said he has not seen any adverse impact of the budget cuts. Is the Opposition Leader that naïve not to realise that increased electricity tariffs will lead to an increased cost of living? If he is so naïve then he is unfit to be a political leader because even a nursery school child would understand this.
He made the laughable assertion too, that despite the cuts by the Opposition, the Government could come to Parliament and request supplementary estimates.
This prompted the Finance Minister to question, and rightly so, ‘why then in the first place the Opposition did not approve the budgetary estimates?’
What the Opposition needs to explain to the Guyanese populace is why Lindeners must enjoy subsidised electricity tariffs but the rest of the country must not?
Electricity is the livewire of the economy of any country because it is vital to the manufacturing industry, IT systems, commercial and business operation and of course for domestic use.
In today’s world electricity is almost essential as water, as it encompasses every facet of life. Therefore, to use it as a political football is untenable, unacceptable and irresponsible by those who are bent on this destructive path.
While it is accepted that GPL has a lot of improvements to make, it must also be understood that many of these problems are a hangover from its predecessor – the Guyana Electricity Corporation (GEC) which had the electricity supply system in total chaos.
In fact, it reached a point of near collapse resulting in blackouts which lasted for weeks in some instances, forcing the then government to commission an inquiry into the operations of the corporation.
The opposition needs to get it drilled into their heads that GPL needs money to fix its problems and to further deny funding is like denying oxygen to a patient who is suffering from breathing problems.
According to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, one of the consulting groups that were retained by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) noted that GPL needs an investment of US$250M to bring the networks up to the required level. But this investment is not within the company’s reach at this time, so further cutting funds to the company is tantamount to strangling it.
It would seem that the Opposition has a carefully orchestrated plan to set the conditions for a tariff increase and then, if they are implemented, it would be the occasion to cast blame on the Government and use it as a springboard for protests and the creation of mayhem and destruction.
This is similar to what Hitler did in Germany, where he burnt the Reichstag building and blamed it on the communists.
Guyanese have to open their eyes and be alert to the intrigues of an Opposition hell bent on achieving political power at any cost.
