The biggest achievement of the Government, says President Jagdeo
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo is contending that the biggest achievement of his Government since assuming power in 1992 is moving Guyana from a state of bankruptcy to financial viability.
Mr. Jagdeo expressed this view in remarks to the 19th Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) Delegates Congress Saturday last at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Greater Georgetown.
“Not the many hospitals that we have built, as important as they are, not the many schools that we have built or rehabilitated, as important as they are, or the roads or the bridges or the housing programme, as important as that is to the realisation of the dreams of thousands of our people”.
“But the only way we could have done all of these things is because we took the tough decision at the right time. So when we were using, like Jamaica, some 94 per cent of revenue to service debt, we are using four per cent today, lower than most countries in the world,” he pointed out, drawing resounding applause from the gathering.
This, the Guyanese Head of State said, was significant; and it did not happen because the country received some US $1.5 B debt relief from abroad; but the Government paid back over US $1.5 B of its debt in the last 15 years.
“You know what we can do with that? Fix every road in Guyana and all the hospitals and schools in Guyana, and build the hydro and increase pensions, put a big chunk of money into NIS to increase workers’ pensions, and do a hundred other things.
“But where would we have been had we just spent the money without paying back our debts. We would have been in the same situation today,” Mr. Jagdeo reasoned.
He underlined too that Guyana’s capacity to face the crisis has been greatly enhanced as there is a smaller fiscal deficit than before, interest rates have come down, the exchange rate is relatively stable, inflation is controlled and debt is not such a big burden on the budget.
The President also noted that this year’s budget was bigger that last year’s, with more money being channeled into the social sector— in education, health and particularly housing and water, to expand benefits to the populace.
Mr. Jagdeo said the various sectors are interconnected and Government has to ensure that all are progressing.
On this point, he stressed it is wrong for sugar workers to say that they are only interested in the sugar industry.
The Head of State said the five hospitals built by the Government, notably the one at Port Mourant in Berbice, will serve the entire country.
“Every single person in Guyana who has a problem with his eyes can go there and fix it for free. When they had to pay $150,000 in the past to fix one eye and $300,000 to fix both eyes if they had cataracts, they can get that done for free!
“And we have said that we are extending this to the rest of the Caribbean for free, as soon as we have gotten rid of the cases in Guyana,” he reiterated.
These developments, the President said, positively impact the lives of sugar workers, likewise the workers from other industries.
He noted that currently there are 150 doctors in the public health system and this year alone, an additional 65 have been added to that list; and with Cuban assistance, a further 300 will join the system in 2011.
“ It means that they will be coming not to the hospitals anymore, because we plan to go to people’s homes, we want to have family medicine, we want them to go to each village and have a database of all of the families there…to improve people’s care right in their homes.
“In education, we have spent billions of dollars, over $ 20 B. We have one of the highest expenditure to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio in the world in the education sector. That benefits your children too, so you have to be interested in it.
“And 80,000 house lots in a country of 200,000 households. Eighty thousand house lots being given out by the state and with some 30,000 houses built, is a major shift in people achieving their dreams and we plan to work until the day that every Guyanese owns his or her own home,” the President promised.
“You have to be concerned that this country continues to generate wealth and that it has the appropriate policy direction so that in five years from now, we are richer that we are today, and 10 years from now, we are significantly richer,” Mr. Jagdeo emphasised.