A Partnership for National Unity today defended cuts it helped engineer in the budget provisions for GINA and NCN saying that non-political management of these two media outfits was needed.
In a statement today on yesterday’s historic cut of budget provisions in tandem with the Alliance For Change, APNU said that NCN and GINA are a “stark reflection of the manner in which the PPP/C Government has been abusing its position of power in Guyana”.
It charged that they were both being used to promote the interests of the government and ruling party.
“The fact is that tax-payers’ monies are being illegally used to prosecute the interests of one political Party, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). This has to be ended and the resolution of the problem would require the joint selection and appointment of professional and non-political management of these entities”, APNU declared.
Referring to this cut and others made yesterday, APNU said that the action was not intended to put ordinary people out of work or to directly punish citizens and Government employees. The party said that there was some effort to identify and cut funds that the Government had been using to hire PPP activists.
“Paying such persons from state revenues and tax resources is widespread in Guyana although it is illegal. Many questions were posed, by Opposition MPs, in order to find out who are among the Contracted Employees and Other, benefitting from this illegal funding of former Ministers and political favourites earning super salaries, and where these payments are to be found”, APNU said.
Secondly, it says the opposition cuts should be seen in the context of the circumstance where, in December 2011, the Government promised to have the Ministry of Finance (MOF) work with the Opposition Parties on the working up of the Budget.
“Instead, the MOF refused to have a single meeting to this end. It also needs to be seen against a background of more recent attempts by APNU to discuss the most egregious elements of the 2012 Budget with the Government and the PPP political leadership”, the party said. The talks produced very little and were even less fruitful when all three Parties participated, APNU said.
“The distinct impression of the Opposition Parties is that the PPP and the MOF, in particular, took a position that not a single figure was to be changed and that everything, especially those relating to attempts to reduce abuse and corruption was non-negotiable”, APNU contended.
Thirdly, when the answers provided by the Ministers were satisfactory, APNU said that the Opposition was prepared to withdraw their proposed cuts. This was the case in several instances involving GECOM.
APNU further argued that steps to heal political and industrial relations rifts, such as restoring the subvention to Critchlow Labour College, were rebuffed.
The opposition is expected to make more cuts at today’s sitting.
