AS the government works towards fully regularising the services offered by sweeper-cleaners, monies have been set aside for the services of additional persons who provide this service to schools and other public offices across the Demerara-Mahaica region.
This came to the fore on Thursday when the budgetary allocations for the Demerara-Mahaica region, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Communities, were scrutinised by the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly.

Already, the sweeper-cleaners are paid salaries and in the 2019 Demerara-Mahaica region budget, under the sub-heading education delivery, a sum of $200M has been budgeted for cleaners.
While being grilled by the Opposition, Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan told parliamentarians that the budgeted sum caters primarily for the salaries of sweeper-cleaners. He said, too, that care-givers are catered for under the budgeted sum.

Bulkan said that a $189M sum, which was sourced via a supplementary budget this year, catered for increases in salaries which the sweeper-cleaners received this year after a decision was made by the government to regularise the services offered by the group.
He said that the increase in 2019, from $189M to $200M, is tied to the raising of the income tax threshold.

“The principal reason for that increase of approximately $10M is to cater for some additional sweeper cleaners at a number of locations,” he said. These include a daycare centre at Ann’s Grove, East Coast Demerara; nursery school buildings at Strasphey, East Coast Demerara, Craig on the East Bank Demerara, and also Vryheid’s Lust North, as well as at the new wing of the Diamond-Grove Primary.

The decision by the government to regularise the sweeper-cleaners this year came after the group of predominantly-women, protested several times in Georgetown and Linden, demanding to be paid the minimum wage and also for better working conditions.
On Thursday, while being questioned on the provisions made for health services in the Demerara-Berbice region for drugs and medical supplies, Bulkan said reconciliation of issues which arose in the delivery of drugs in the past is “a work in progress”.

Bulkan told parliamentarians on Thursday that government places emphasis on the quality of spending being made by each State agency, and that central government is concerned about this process.
He said that Finance Minister, Winston Jordan mentioned this during his wrap-up of the budget debates.

“I think that principle reverberates across all the agencies that are the recipients and beneficiaries for funding under this budget,” Bulkan said.
A sum of $7.2B was approved for the Demerara-Mahaica Regional Administration on Thursday by the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly during the consideration of the estimates and expenditure of the 2019 national budget.