– challenges Opposition’s claims with facts about government’s crucial decision-making process
THE People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s plans to development Guyana is not static but it evolves based on various critical factors, according to Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and Public Service, Dr. Ashni Singh.
Closing the Budget 2024 debate in fine style and with great passion, the minister responded to the many claims that were peddled by the Opposition in the National Assembly.
Addressing the criticism from the Opposition surrounding Guyana’s future, Singh boldly stated: “A good plan can’t be a static plan. You adapt, you adjust [and] you evolve depending on changing circumstances.”
He added: “So, the planning processes, I don’t think you need to be a nuclear scientist, or a cardiologist or a neurosurgeon to know that planning is a dynamic and living process.”
Responding directly to the Opposition’s argument about planning, Dr Singh highlighted how the APNU+AFC administration had scrapped the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which was tailored to improve the lives of Guyanese.
Instead of using the work that had already been done to advance national development, the then David Granger-led coalition government developed their own “Green State Development Strategy” which, Dr. Singh said, did absolutely nothing for Guyana and its citizens.
The draft version of the LCDS 2030 was launched in October 2021. It was built from the 2009 version of the strategy, which was also updated in 2013.
The LCDS subsequently underwent months of national consultations during which community-level engagements took place along with engagements with national stakeholders.
Guyana was well-positioned as a global leader on the subject of low carbon development just prior to the PPP/C demitting office in 2015.
Upon the APNU+AFC’s assumption to office, all of the projects that were intended to benefit the people of Guyana were shelved, including the Amerindian Land Titling Project, the Hinterland Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Project, among others.
When the PPP/C assumed office in August 2020, after a glaring attempt by the coalition to influence the outcome of the elections, the LCDS was restored.
The world’s first TREES credits were notably awarded to Guyana by the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) in December 2022.
It was the first time a nation had received carbon credits created especially for the voluntary and compliant carbon markets for effectively preventing the loss and degradation of forests, a procedure known as jurisdictional REDD+, which was a significant milestone.
Guyana received 33.47 million TREES credits from ART for the five-year period between 2016 and 2020 after the Board of Directors of ART approved the project and concluded an independent evaluation and verification process. This made it possible for Hess Corporation and the Guyana government to reach a historic deal in which the oil giants decided to buy one-third of all Guyana’s credits—both issued and projected—up until 2030.
With these new heights, Minister Singh said: “Those resources are being used to execute land titling projects, drainage and irrigation projects [and] solar electricity projects [and] are benefiting the people of Guyana today as we speak.”
The Finance Minister also reminded the National Assembly of the former APNU+AFC administration’s introduction of new taxes, and the implementation of policies which saw the removal of disposable income from the citizens’ pockets.
Providing a realistic example of what obtained, Dr. Singh noted that the previous government took away an estimated $9 million from households during its five years in office.
In another example, he said a family comprising three school-aged children lost about $150,000 when the opposition discontinued the distribution of the $10,000 cash grant that was being offered to citizens during the PPP/C’s governance.
Similarly, Dr. Singh noted that many public servants, such as members of the Joint Services, lost millions.
Unlike the APNU+AFC, the Finance Minister said: “We will deliver the things we promised, and we will continue to work through Budget 2024, 25, 26 and beyond … We will craft the budget in a particular frame where no other time in our country’s history entrepreneurial opportunities so abound.”
He added: “For years, even perhaps decades, we in this country have been engaging in successive processes to prepare plans and identify priorities.”
