-Teixeira says

MINISTER of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, on Friday said the A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Members of Parliament are unable to critically analyze the 2023 national budget owing to their lack of knowledge about economic systems.
During her presentation on the final day of the budget debate, Teixeira highlighted the failure of the former government to meet the needs that Guyana has been developing at a rapid rate since 2020 following the return of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) to office.

“Everywhere you go there’s change. Architecture is changing the landscape of each village, each area. Each part of this country is changing rapidly,” Teixeira told the National Assembly.

New housing schemes, massive infrastructural projects are among the initiatives slated in budgetary allocations this year.

“Those on the opposite [side] cannot imagine a Guyana that is on the move, that is transformed to be a model modern nation with a low-carbon diversified economy with transportation links, a new city, deep-water harbour, a new suspension bridge across the Demerara river, a new bridge across the Corentyne River, where our people can live in new housing schemes,” she said.

Further Teixeira cited the audit reports of 2016, 2017 and 2018 where cases of breaches of the Procurement Act and financial regulations during the APNU+AFC’s tenure were recorded.

She reminded the house that the PPP/C removed numerous burdensome taxes and implemented several programmes and policies that resulted in Guyana improving its international rankings.

“In the five years you took hundreds of thousands of dollars from each family with all those taxations that you brought on our people…. yet you come here sanctimoniously and pretend that you did a good,” she said adding:
“We are getting billions of dollars in people’s pocket. You took money out of people’s pockets. We are putting money back in and we’ve done it in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and for the next 20 years when we stay in government.”
Citing another report, the minister said that tenders to over 20 foreign companies were denied, while contracts were awarded to persons who did not participate in the bidding process.

Labelling this misconduct as, “executive lawlessness,” she said the opposition has failed to critically examine the 2023 National Budget, reiterating that Guyanese will benefit from better budgetary initiatives.

“People are saturated. They don’t want to hear it anymore. They want to go on with their lives to have a house with some land or car..for their kids to be able to get a good education and access jobs or create small businesses or farms and fish they want some gainful economic activity,” she added.

She noted that Guyanese are becoming weary of the narrative being peddled by the opposition.

“The people know you better than you know yourself because they have experienced you.

“The level of race and racial innuendos was sickening in this case, deliberately putting one ethnic group against each other represents the empty barrels dropping around comments about discrimination.”

She emphasised that the PPP/C is determined to make people’s lives better.

“You come to the house with tainted glasses… because street lights are going up where there weren’t any, roads are going up where there weren’t any, bridges, houses are going up…We have a long way to go; we are a small developing country but we are making progress, and this is under the PPP/C because you took us back in the five years, you took hundreds of thousands from each family with all those taxations you brought to the people.”