LEADER of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Mr. David Granger said last night that the 2014 budget presented by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh was divorced from reality.

He charged: “It is not a development budget; it does not substantially affect the lives of the masses. I do not have faith that it can create the jobs for the young people; I do not have any inkling that the measures there can reduce poverty.”
He said the five percent increase in old age pensions was one example of the lack of connection of the budget with the realities of the people on the ground.

He said that the APNU appreciated the increase, but what may sound okay in Georgetown is definitely not the same thing for people living in the remote areas, where a gallon of gasoline costs $3,000 and a pound of chicken costs $800.

“It is a different reality there, so giving people a 5% more on the old age pension is not going to change their lives.”

He added that instead of the education grants for children, he would have liked to see the provision of school buses and school boats rather than a financial grant, especially in the riverine areas. He said provision of such facilities would have been more beneficial, since many children in the riverine areas do not go to school because of lack of transport.

He also charged that the computer literacy programme was in many cases another disconnect with reality. “At the Paramakatoi Secondary School there are many computers, but no electricity. The computers are mere ornaments. So I don’t know what the budget is all about. On the ground we don’t see any development, we don’t see any change.”

Shadow Finance Minister Mr. Carl Greenidge also harshly criticised the budget. He said that expenditure is neither growth nor development, especially in a country where corruption is so rampant.

He said: “As you look at the priorities, it is very difficult to escape the impression that not enough careful thought was given for this budget. The primordial emphasis is given to capital projects, which seem to be generated in a random way or are pet schemes of Government officials.”

This, he said, is cause for worry, since the benefits most times go to contractors rather than to the intended beneficiaries.

He said the 5% increase in old age pension is a joke compared to revenue increases, which by the minister’s own admission have been substantial.

He charged that for all the ‘enormous growth which began in 2006’, Guyana still has the highest rates of suicide as well as the highest rate of ‘out’ migration in the Region.

He charged that unemployment among the young is in excess of 40%, and there is a variety of issues of this type which have not been addressed.

He said: “If the approach were a serious one, we would have been able to see how the particular policies he has identified will impact in some quantitative manner on the different areas of concern to us.”

Greenidge also decried what he called the government’s cavalier approach to consultations and dialogue. He said that the failure of the Government to take on board the concerns of people other than itself is reflected in the fact that the main productive enterprises, such as the Guyana Power and Light and GUYSUCO, continue today to face the same difficulties that they did last year.

“They faithfully promised in 2012 that they were going to fix GUYSUCO. Today GUYSUCO is worse off than it was then. They are asking for $6 billion now, and later in the year they gonna come back for more. It is the same thing with the GPL,” he said.

He said the long list of things that the government intends to do actually need to be reflected in more meaningful projects and undertakings.

The debate on the 2014 Budget begins on March 31.

(By Clifford Stanley)