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“The Budget cuts have an effect internationally, because they dent our image as a country and as a viable destination for investment. In today’s world, investment is what, principally, drives economic growth in a country and investors look for stability in a country,” Nandlall stated.
He said the PPP has been struggling and fighting for development over the years, noting that even after the country attained independence there was still another hurdle that had to be overcome, the dictatorship of the People’s National Congress (PNC), which, he said, the PPP was very instrumental in removing.
, Nandlall added that 20 years after the dawn of democracy in Guyana the nation now faces a different challenge.
“We have another form of dictatorship, this time in the Parliament of our country and we will not abandon our people in this last form of struggle that we face,” he emphasised.
Nandlall said the PPP views, with deep concern and even some form of amusement, the attempts which are now being made by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) in their efforts to justify what he called an “incomprehensible act.”
He said the opposition parties have been forced to justify their actions because of the condemnation they have suffered from not only the Government, but from every sector of this country, including the Private Sector Commission, the business sector, the labour movement, the workers and various organisations of civil society.
INGENIOUS EXPLANATIONS
Nandlall continued: “Faced with that type of situation the APNU and the AFC have had to engage in all sorts of ingenious explanations and manipulative devices to explain away the rationality of their actions…they have failed to demonstrate, to the Guyanese people, any form of justification for exercising the power which they have in the National Assembly in the manner which they have exercised it.”
Moreover, the AG related that Guyana has moved from the phase of having physical unrest in the streets to a different form of instability, the “unpredictable, unlawful, arbitrary and capricious use of power by the Opposition in the National Assembly.”
He pointed out that the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Expansion Project, the Specialty Hospital and the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project were all supported by the Opposition last year but have been slashed this year.
According to Nandlall, this conveys the impression, internationally, that there is a body of persons in the Parliament that are acting in one manner one year and “irrationally and unpredictably” in a completely different way the following year.
“Faced with that type and climate, investors will, obviously, be hesitant to invest their money in Guyana, simply because they cannot predict, with any reasonable certainty, how is it that the Opposition will react next year to the budget,” he remarked.
Nandlall alluded to the need for attracting competition in the airline industry for many reasons, such as to boost tourism and influence a decrease in air fares.
However, he observed that airlines that are looking to ply this route will look at the facilities that are available in neighbouring areas to inform them of whether they will choose Guyana as a destination. He also acknowledged that some airlines have already raised technical objections in relation to the quality and size of the runway in Guyana.
Nandlall said the Government views the airport expansion project as a catalyst for national development and the removal of the allocation for it has put the Government in a very strange dilemma.
Contractual obligations
In addition, he mentioned that such projects all involve contractual obligations with other countries, financial institutions and international contractors.
“When we violate our obligations which flow from these engagements, we dent our image, again, internationally. Contractors will find it extremely difficult to be encouraged to invest in Guyana, to want to do projects in Guyana when they are assured one year that the projects will proceed and then, in the very next year, the very people who approved those projects withdraw their support without any sensible and any credible explanation,” Nandlall warned.
About the reduction in the subsidy for Guyana Power & Light (GPL), he said it is simply not justifiable.
“I hear the AFC speak about management issues but they have failed to say how slashing the subsidy will correct the management issue that they have identified,” the AG said.
He said the Government has chosen to develop an alternative source of power, in the form of the Amaila Falls Hydro but, in the meantime, GPL is the only source of electricity supply in the country and, while the Opposition has reduced GPL’s subsidy, they have denied the alternative.
Nandlall said the issue is compounded by the fact that the electricity subsidy for every part of Guyana, except Region 10(Upper Demerara/Berbice), has been cut.
“That kind of discriminatory treatment to our people cannot be tolerated and must be condemned in the strongest possible way,” he urged.
In relation to the Specialty Hospital, Nandlall questioned the basis on which a political party which seeks to present itself as an alternative government can act in a manner to deny people of proper health care.
“No amount of machinations with words can justify the denial of the people of this country of the quality of medical care and attention that that hospital was designed to bring,” he argued.
Legal liability
The AG also related that the nation is now exposed to a tremendous amount of legal liability because there are contracts for which the Government cannot discharge its obligations due to the budget cuts.
He revealed that those contracts include serious punitive sanctions for breaches, noting that the airport project, for instance, carries liquidated damages to the tune of US$110,000 per day.
Meanwhile, Nandlall said APNU, in what he called an “almost ridiculous” press statement, suggested that it had to act in that way because they owe a duty to the people to cut the Budget.
Nandlall said, though, that an alternative government in any democracy ought to present another plan if it disagrees with that of the Administration for the development of the country.
“That is their responsibility, that is their obligation, to present to the nation an alternative plan to develop the country. What alternative plans have this opposition presented? None, all they have done is to reduce our budget by 15 percent,” he maintained.
PULL QUOTE: “We have another form of dictatorship, this time in the Parliament of our country and we will not abandon our people in this last form of struggle that we face.” – Anil Nandlall
