— says Dr. Tandika Smith

The hallmark of the APNU+AFC Coalition regime surrounded anti-progress, anti-cohesion, anti-youth development, and, most of all, anti-democracy.
This is according to government Member of Parliament, Dr. Tandika Smith, who was, at the time, delivering her budget presentation to the National Assembly.
“Always be reminded that it was under the very Coalition Government you did not enjoy the good life as promised, opportunities and employment became foreign to them, health care, education, agriculture and major sectors collapsed under their watch and, most of all, democracy was under siege for five long months, your basic right to freedom of choice was held hostage simply because of an uncaring and kleptocratic government,” Dr. Smith said.
Be watchful and be mindful, she said, noting that the future generation must never endure what citizens endured under the APNU\AFC Coalition and certainly must never have their right to freedom of choice violated or held hostage.

“Like every Guyanese, I am convinced that the only hard work they have done was to work hard on destroying the economy of this country, they worked hard to empty the pockets of the working class and the poor and ordinary man of our country by adding over 200 new taxes; they worked hard on creating unemployment by firing 7,000 sugar workers and 2, 000 Amerindian CSOs, and that is why today they can only boast of works that are a mere figment of their imagination and it is evident that they are competing with the fictional characters of the famous fairytale books, Alice in wonderland and Pinocchio,” Dr. Smith said.
She explained that the distortions of their perception of “a good life and progress” is insanely unbelievable and a blatant insult to the intelligence of every Guyanese and, more so, to their own supporters.

VENOMOUS AND SHAMEFUL
“The untruths spewed by the Coalition opposition is venomous and shameful and it is sickening to see that the very political party that plundered the public’s purse, did nothing for our country, stand there without remorse, knowing fully well that it was under their government many families went to bed without a meal, persons lost their place of abode, our school children dropped out of schools, the dreams of our young people to attend a university to achieve higher learning was shattered simply because the children and cronies of party members became a high priority,” she noted.
Meanwhile, in the health sector where she practices, Dr. Smith said that it is no secret that under the previous administration, like other sectors, the health sector suffered immensely due to mass corruption and mismanagement of public funds.

As a result of this, she said basic medication countrywide was not available while there was a crippling of basic health services such as ultrasonography, x-rays and basic laboratory tests such as biochemistry and serology, among others.
Today, under this government, Dr. Smith said a whopping $53.5Billion, one of the largest in many years, was allocated to the Health Ministry to tackle maternal and child health, mental health, chronic disease and reproductive health, among other benefits.
The doctor noted that a total of $70 billion will be allocated to replenish the shortage of medications for psychiatric patients and programmes will be implemented to address mental health and suicide prevention, which will be extended to hinterland communities.

“Mr Speaker, our high risk expecting mothers in areas such as Moruca, Kato and Enmore will be able to benefit from maternal waiting homes provided for them at the cost of over $ 140 million,” she said.
Further, she said, $2.8 billion has been allocated for smart hospital projects at Leonora, Lethem, Paramakatoi, Mabaruma, while Diamond will see upgraded services.
She said that this is clearly a visionary path that the government will embark on to ensure no community, big or small, is left behind as was done under the previous government.
“Mr Speaker, our health sector has been plagued with a large number of nonfunctional or faulty medical equipment in various health facilities. This will be resolved because $1.8 billion has been allocated to purchase critical medical equipment to furnish this void,” she said.