BUDGET 2019 was exceptional and can be used as a good historical document that can be used by universities and people in academia since there is so much to be gained, according to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon during his post-Cabinet media briefing on Friday.

Harmon was at the time responding to a question which noted harsh criticism from Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, over what he described as the “visionless and disappointing” National Budget presented in the National Assembly.

“We hear the cries of the people on the ground, and therefore we are not deaf to those realities and so you have a budget that has education as its primary focus, it has the largest chunk of the budget, the budget also deals with the health of the people, this is the next large chunk of the budget,” he said.

He explained that the budget also deals with enhancement of the infrastructure of the country, social protection and cohesion along with all developmental projects.
“The budget is not all about dollars and cents, it about promoting a ‘Green’ State Developmental Strategy in the initial stages and moving Guyana forward into the 2020’s and onto 2040,” Harmon said.

Meanwhile, commenting on the recently concluded Local Government Elections, Harmon said the election was a gauge to the mood of the electorate and the APNU is reviewing strategies which address citizens’ concerns.
“As far as it being a census on the coalition government, I think that might not be an accurate statement because if you recognise the turnout was low, what you were looking at were percentages of a low turnout,” Harmon said.

However, he said it will be used as a guide for the future.
When questioned on the LGE awareness campaign, Minister Harmon said both GECOM and Ministry of Communities have a dual responsibility in voters’ awareness.
“To say that there has not been enough voter education is unfortunate, because these are the second set of LGEs we are holding since 2015, in fact the LGEs before was done in March 2016, so we had voter’s education over the years,” the Minister of State noted.