Dear Editor,
I refer to a letter from D. Ramprakash entitled ‘Statistics are essential in the marginalisation debate.’ Ramprakash is of course correct; it is a difficult accusation to define or to quantify and so we have to establish marginalisation another way, ie by looking at the perceptions of people, since if perceptions are not reality, they certainly point to what is reality for our people.
This is an edited version of part of my speech in the Parliament during the 2008 budget debates. I reproduce it here since it is my opinion, with the greatest of respect, that this question of marginalisation is not being properly analysed in your columns by the letter writers on the matter.
I found the introductory remarks of the Finance Minister’s budget submission 2008 personally offensive, since I know what the economic realities are for the majority of Guyanese. It is a situation which was much different to what was being presented by Minister Singh in the Parliament and thus raised serious questions about his credibility; but since this same Minister stood in our National Assembly in 2007 and told us that his VAT taxes of 16% for 2007 were revenue neutral and that would not add any financial burden to the Guyanese people, Dr Ashni Singh’s credibility was completely compromised, since VAT has netted nearly 76% more revenue than projected, and the poor Guyanese citizens – the poorest and most taxed citizens in the Caribbean – have had to pay 12 billion dollars extra in taxes to compensate for the sad way our economy is performing. The only questions therefore now are: 1. Was it deliberate? or 2. Did he make a mistake? Neither is acceptable.
And so I have decided that the minister’s presentation was not a realistic look at our national situation. What is the reality of the Guyana situation?