Citing data from a study put together by the World Bank, Alliance for Change MP Khemraj Ramjattan in parliament on Friday sought to highlight a number of aspects of the country’s development which he argued were not dealt with in the budget.
The budget, he said, fails miserably and seeks to play politics with “our economy”. To remedy those defects, he noted, “we must transcend politics.” Contending that government is in a difficult position, Ramjattan urged that “we must appreciate that which is the true position,” adding that the climate for creation of wealth is non-existent. Ramjattan, mentioning that the results of the World Bank study were made available to him as a parliamentarian, went on to quote a range of macro-economic figures that indicated realistically, in his view, the level of development in Guyana.
Some of these are bribes for contracts that Ramjattan stated amounted to 15.3% of the contract value, while 15% mistrusted the judiciary and 20% do not trust the government. He also mentioned that 73% of the populace had experienced blackouts and it takes approximately 15 days to import goods and 20 days for exports. This kind of information, Ramjattan said, is important to “what we can create”. He went on to quote that Guyana is 117th place among 117 countries in having pervasive money laundering through banks, and in terms of the reliability of the police the country is 116th of 117 and 115th of 117 for having irregular contracts. These indices ought to be known in order to build proper responses, the AFC chairman maintained. Ramjattan said further that over the years he has spent on the Public Accounts Commit-tee of Parliament, he was aware of the happenings in government agencies. However, despite the recommendations made there has been no movement forward.
He declared also that whatever economic growth was recorded by the budget could be attributed to the Providence Cricket Stadium and the Skeldon sugar factory modernization projects. He pointed out, however, that there are now more beggars on the street as well as more white-collar crime.
The AFC chairman, turning to the issue of freedom of expression, stated that government should deal with questions of good governance and not come down hard on critics since this is not the way toward modernity.
According to the parliamentarian, there was a creeping authoritarianism, but the government should listen to what people had to say. Ramjattan created a stir at the start of his presentation when he read the slogan on the front page of Stabroek News protesting the cut-off of ministry ads to the newspaper.
Meanwhile, Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir quoted a number of figures he said he had gathered while doing research to suggest there is substantial growth in the economy. He also made note of the decreased mortality rate among babies, stating that it was 40 in every 1,000 in 1990 but that figure is 20 in every 1,000 now. He also maintained that the government is managing the economy by modern means, which are ever-changing.
Minister Nadir, focusing on his ministry, told the National Assembly that following a 2004 Cabinet meeting a study was initiated that is about to result in the first national employment report. He noted here that if “we use informed positions we can get better value for the dollar we spend.”
