–ANUG keen on ensuring transparency and accountability

DEPUTY Speaker and Leader of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Lenox Shuman said he was pleased that the issues raised and contributions proffered by the smaller political parties in Guyana are reflected in the 2021 National Budget, which was presented on Friday.

“The majority of the things that we contributed at the lunch (with President, Dr Irfaan Ali) made it into the budget, and I am very happy about that,” Shuman told the Guyana Chronicle on Friday, after the presentation of the National Budget.

Ahead of the presentation of the 2021 National Budget, several of the ‘smaller’ political parties, three of which have joined together and garnered a single seat in parliament, were consulted by President Dr. Irfaan Ali.

“You are all stakeholders in this process, and as we have embarked on Budget 2021, I thought it necessary that at least we have a working lunch and examine some of your thoughts; some of what you see as priorities, so that we can have a discussion, so that we can consult, so that we can arrive at a programme in which all of Guyana feel as if they’re part of it,” the President told the parties when he met with them at State House in January.

Present at that engagement were representatives from A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), the Citizenship Initiative (TCI), the New Movement (TNM), United Republican Party (URP) and Change Guyana.

Key concerns for Shuman, who represents part of the parliamentary opposition, were the provisions made for the development of Indigenous Peoples, including the revival of the Amerindian Titling Project.

As announced by the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, the long-delayed Amerindian Land Titling Project will be expedited through the budgetary allocation of $630M.

On Friday, Shuman was unsure whether this amount would suffice to cover all the work needed to advance the land titling project but emphasised, “I hope that after that is expended, I hope that we’re going to see the replenishment of those funds to finish off the rest of the land titling.”

He was also pleased with the efforts geared at bridging the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for hinterland and rural communities. These efforts include bolstering access to Internet connectivity, and enhancing the necessary infrastructure to allow access to the technology.

Shuman highlighted that the President was asked to pay keen attention on ensuring that Indigenous students are not “left behind”.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Meanwhile, ANUG’s Kian Jabour highlighted that while he was pleased with the budget, it is ANUG’s role to ensure that there is transparency and accountability in the expenditure of the funds. “We are the opposition; the joinder seat, and what we’d like to see now is the money that has been allocated reaching everyone in the country,” Jabour said.

“A majority in Parliament allows the Government to have full control over these types of decisions, (but) what we as an opposition have to do now is ensure that transparency and accountability are key, and that this money reaches all corners of the country for all those that voted for and against.”

Importantly, the ANUG member expressed his displeasure that the main parliamentary opposition, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition, did not participate in the consultations.

“It is our job as the opposition to ensure that we are participating in the process as much as we can, and we are ensuring that not only the people who have voted for the government benefit from this, but all people,” he stressed.

He also voiced his displeasure at the $2 billion bailout given to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL). During the budget presentation, Dr. Singh said the bailout was necessary because of the difficult financial situation that the last government left GPL in. He added that this government has recognised that the single biggest impediment to development is the absence of affordable and reliable energy. “Those areas, I think, need to become more efficient, and I think there is a lot of leakage in those areas, and those structures need to be set up a little bit better,” Jabour said.