IF IT was not clear to you before that the combined Opposition is incapable of assuming the role of Government in our country, their pathetic effort to mount a debate against the 2014 national estimates brought home this fact.This all started with the outburst by failed former Finance Minister Carl Greenidge and now APNU point man on finance, of all things, when he warned of a ‘bloody war’ over the 2014 Budget. Bear in mind that up to this point, APNU and the AFC had staunchly refused to respond to any invitations by the PPP/C Government to consultations during the preparation of the estimates, but now it was convenient to attack the Administration for not ‘consulting’ the Opposition.
What then followed has left Opposition supporters dejected as they have come to the realisation that APNU and AFC leaders could ‘pelt a good bluff’ but when it came time to match wits in the National Assembly, the gap is insurmountable. This was exhibited by the content or lack thereof of almost every Opposition member budget speech and even Old Kai felt a bit embarrassed as they looked like ‘sailors’.
Greenidge was critical of everything under the sun, but yet could not provide any meaningful alternatives to the programmes contained in the budget. Surely, if you want to project yourself as a possible alternative to the current Finance Minister, you must, at bare minimum, be able to come up with a handful of ideas as a counter and which will be used to rally your supporters. None was forthcoming.
Then there is APNU’s point man on infrastructure, Joseph Harmon, who said that the budget “was the worst ever produced by the Finance Minister” and added that “Dr. Singh and his budget team is tired and has produced an uninspiring document…”
Well, if presenting a document which will surely extend our country’s economic growth for a record period is “uninspiring” to this APNU Member of Parliament, it does not surprise Old Kai one bit. After all, it goes against their ‘making Guyana ungovernable’ plan; but equally, one can see that Harmon was speaking from a place of experience, given all the vast experience his political party had when they were in Government in reducing Guyana from the most progressive to the least progressive when they exited Government in 1992.
The genius even attacked “spending on public infrastructure” as being wrongfully prioritised. In the confusion, he inadvertently admits that several of the PPP/C Government projects, such as Amaila and the CJIA expansion are transformational ones but then goes on to attack efforts to realise them.
We are then joined by APNU Region 7 representative, Dawn Hastings, who announced that youths of the hinterland continue to be denied equal access to education and the obviously troubled woman was quoted as saying, “One of the cries is that there are still limited job opportunities for our young people…it is time our youth have access to technical or industrial centers.”
I can feel your ‘genuine’ concern Ms. Hastings, but it is a pity you did not realise this when your party, the APNU, teamed up with the AFC to cut a multi-million dollar project to train hinterland youths in small business enterprises/entrepreneurships. It is sad that you sat in Parliament and remained quite when the AFC threatened to cut funding last December for a project which will provide free transportation for Amerindian children to be taken to school. It is sad that you voted with your party to cut funding for the LCD’s for two consecutive years, and in so doing, denying Amerindians several projects which would have continued to address those concerns you spoke about. It is unfortunate that you voted to cut Presidential grants for each and every Amerindian community for two consecutive years, grants which usually go towards developing village enterprises, creating those hinterland jobs you speak of now.
Then we have our dear Amalia hydo power girl Kathy Hughes of the AFC talking about our ‘unrealised potential in tourism’ and during a deep period of reflection she questioned, “How can we expect the international marketplace to take us seriously when initiatives to move this sector forward have been put on the back burner for decades?”
You have to give her credit, but it is sad she was not concerned about our tourism potential and the international community when she and her party were publicly encouraging unrest which led to the destruction of Linden.
What message was her party sending to potential visitors when her husband publicly called for ‘no peace’ and the destruction which soon followed along the Agricola public road? You can imagine the great impression her party left on the countless number of visitors who were stuck in the ensuing traffic jam along the East Bank, and as a result, missed their flights. They have such nice stories to relate about Guyana’s tourism industry after witnessing the beautiful scenes along the Agricola stretch, which were inspired by Mrs. Hughes’ party. At the same time, in all of her concern for tourism, she remained opposed to the expansion of the airport to cater for our visitors and the construction of our first ever internationally recognised hotel, the Marriott.
In closing, it has not missed Old Kai’s attention that the AFC is calling to be provided with documents on the Amaila falls hydro and other major projects, again. Recall when President Ramotar came to office he invited the Opposition to discussions on these projects where they were presented with the documents and their questions answered. Then they went to Parliament and called for the documents and they were again given them. Now the AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan is calling for the documents again, so it’s a rather pointless effort by Government.
It is not the Government’s fault that the Opposition does not have the capacity to read and understand a basic project document or at least they pretend not to. The time has come for the Government to move ahead with its plan of development,  as next year, the AFC will again be requesting the same documents and we would still be at square one with no progress which fits perfectly into their ‘collateral damage’ plan.