OVER $237M has been approved by the National Assembly for a number of provisions for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), in spite of coming under fire from the Joint Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

Despite the Ministry of Finance providing a ledger detailing how the money requested would be spent, APNU Parliamentarian, Mr Winston Felix was the first to query the $50M being sought by the GDF for the maintenance of one of its rotor-wing aircraft.
“For years,” he said, “I have been involved with the preparation of budgets, and we know that, particularly with aircraft and so on, they have a certain life; and you know they will be due for servicing or replacement at X time… so it should have come in the 2013 Budget.”

But his concerns were quickly quelled by Deputy Speaker, Ms Bibi Shaddick, who noted that since the nature of the work of the GDF is unpredictable, it would be difficult for the organisation to anticipate the frequency of maintenance.
“An aircraft has to be maintained after so many hours of flying when it comes to the Defence Force…they may anticipate that they will fly for 10,000 hours,” she said, adding: “When it comes to the GDF, when they are called upon, they would have used more than would have been anticipated.”
She bolstered her argument by comparing the maintenance of an aircraft to that of a car, which also requires maintenance after travelling a certain number of miles.

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh had tabled a Financial Paper in the National Assembly two Thursdays ago (January 16), seeking the release of additional funds to several ministries, including the Ministry of Home Affairs, so that they could procure much-needed items, such as food and vehicle parts, and effect maintenance.
Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Mr Juan Edghill in seeking to clarify the matter, drew reference to the ledger provided to all

Parliamentarians and the public by the Ministry of Finance.
“The ledger clearly indicated that the $50M that is being sought has to do with the cost of maintaining the fleet of fixed-wing and rotating aircraft which are, several aircraft that are within the GDF… This includes the belt for the helicopter,” he said.
“The maintenance cost ended up being more than what was anticipated, and because of the nature of the activities and work of the GDF, it is

something that has to be dealt with in an urgent manner.”
Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn also responded to the questioning by APNU, by reminding the Assembly that it was the GDF and its officers that carried out rescue searches for the Trans-Guyana aircraft that went missing less than two weeks ago.
The purpose of drawing reference to the Trans-Guyana incident, it was said, was to demonstrate that given the extenuating circumstances under which the GDF operates, it has unforeseen circumstances that could not have been anticipated, and therefore could not have been budgeted for.
Minister Edghill was also asked to apprise the Assembly of the total number of vehicles involved, but referred those queries to the Security Committee, which he said was in a better position to provide the sort of information that was being sought.
“With greatest respect to members of the House,” he said, “the Administration has been quite detailed… We are dealing with matters of national security, and would prefer to have them dealt with at another level.”
After the questions were satisfactorily answered by the government side of the House, the Financial Paper was voted on and passed unanimously.