Government speakers yesterday defended the administration’s record on corruption, saying it is, among other things, a “fictional issue” as debate on the 2011 Budget continued in the National Assembly.
In response to the first speaker, PNCR-1G Parlia-mentarian Amna Ally, who raised the issue, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud went on the offensive, saying that the opposition has no answer to the rapid progress Guyana has made under the PPP/C administration. “Every intervention, every programme, every progress that we make, the opposition seeks to put corruption as a label,” he said, adding that Guyanese have judged in consecutive elections that “this fabrication of widespread corruption…is merely a fabrication.”
Any analysis of the Auditor-General’s report will point out that year after year the level of accountability and transparency is increasing, he said, while adding that this points to government’s commitment in dealing with corruption.
In response to the disbursing of money from Norway under its forest cooperation agreement with Guyana, which was raised as debate opened on Monday, Persaud said that the issue was never about corruption but about the process through which the funding would be delivered. Not only did the government agree to adhere to the World Bank safeguards, but under this particular arrangement the government is adding on the Inter-American Develop-ment Bank safeguards so the funds from Norway will have to go through three levels of safeguards, he said.
He referred to a report by the Rainforest Alliance programme, which recently completed the verification of enabling activities for the Guyana-Norway agreement, and he noted that it was largely positive. “Sometimes honourable members, from time to time they seek to misrepresent the progress we have made as a nation,” charged Persaud.
Guyana fared well in the global economic crisis because of the sound and prudent management and leadership by President Bharrat Jagdeo and the PPP/C government, he declared. To heckling of “tell us about GuySuCo,” Persaud noted that Banks DIH and other companies operating in Guyana have made profits and this shows the rapid progress Guyana has made.
Further, Persaud, said, today only 13% of revenue is being spent on servicing the external debt. “We are [a] very lawful government and whatever we do are in conformity of the law,” he said, while adding that for anyone to suggest that the administration is increasing the debt is far from the fact. According to him, donor agencies are satisfied with level of management in the country.
Labelling the budget a “people’s budget,” Persaud said that the responses from the opposition are unable to point to any weaknesses in the programmes and policies but they charge corruption, lack of transparency and discrimination. “That’s the opposition response to everything. That is all they dream up without any evidence,” he said. After addressing this, Persaud spoke on his portfolio.
‘No Garden of Eden’
He noted that there is lots of emphasis on restructuring traditional agriculture activities, while a large amount of resources has been allocated to ensure diversification.
In sugar, he said, close to 43% of GuySuCo’s capital programme this year will be spent on mechanisation because the cane is there but there are not enough hands to harvest and take it to the factory. Going forward, managing industrial relations will have to be improved and given serious attention, he said, pointing out that they are dealing with an industry with a new social reality and with a new employment arrangement whereby there are more job opportunities for workers and where GuySuCo is having difficulties in attracting workers and the numbers it needs. An area of priority is remuneration, he said.
According to Persaud, the difficulties being faced by the industry are not dissimilar to that faced across the region but he pointed to the turnaround plan. He said that all the indicators except the production target have been satisfied. He noted that the main source of financing of the plan is land disposal, more particularly the Diamond estate land, and he rejected the suggestion that government is seeking to divert money from the Central Housing and Planning Authority into GuySuCo as “total rubbish.”
“Even if we were diverting money, as long we’ve done it through the legal means, once it’s in the interest of the sugar workers, what is wrong with that?” he asked, saying that it was a totally legal transaction that the National Assembly was aware of.
Meantime, he acknowledged that there are inadequacies in the sector such as it relates to financing, drainage and irrigation, planting material, new pests and animal diseases but government is seeking solutions. “It is not the Garden of Eden” but government is cognisant of the reality, has a vision and an aggressive programme in transforming the country, including the agricultural sector, he said.
The minister said that attention will continue to be given to rice and diversification will continue to be pursued. He said that it was “far from reality” that the authorities are not enforcing laws in relation to protection of farmers. Persaud said that government will continue to pursue large-scale agriculture and job creation is a priority. “We are building an agri-business sector in this country,” he stressed.
He said that government has modernised the land management system and has gone through a “revolution” in land tenure policies. The administration wants to ensure equitable access to land, he said. “We’re an accountable government,” Persaud said as he defended the budget. He said that government will continue to ensure that opportunities are there for Guyanese to make a contribution to this country, noting that $1.7billion is going back to people because of the increase of the income tax threshold.
