Dear Editor,
The Alliance For Change is alarmed at the callous remarks of Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh that “jobs will go” as a result of the joint opposition’s scaling back of what must be recognized as a budget which initially included wasteful and questionable expenditure. Lest we forget it was the PPP which evaded consultation with the opposition and unilaterally presented Budget 2012.
With specific reference to GINA, the AFC has already outlined but now reiterates that most ministries received monies in the 2012 Budget for public relations activities. The AFC is of the view that these ministries should use their monies to pay GINA for the work they do. To allocate monies in the budget for the ministries to pursue PR and then allocate another sum for GINA separately is double paying for the same service while creating jobs for PPP cronies and affiliates.
Attempts to hide this fact from the public, as is being done, are nothing less than an attempt to hoodwink the people of Guyana about how their tax dollars are being deceptively misused.
The AFC notes further the reasoned observation of Stabroek News which, in its editorial of April 30, concluded that “the jobs of these persons employed by GINA, in particular, are well within the resourcefulness of the government to preserve and not one of them needs to be sent home.”
Secondly, the removal of the government subvention to NCN represents a mere 10% reduction in its overall operating costs. Any management which is not able to maintain all jobs with a 10% cutback in revenue cannot escape being justifiably branded as incompetent. Any job loss at NCN will confirm what the people of Guyana already know – that NCN is incompetently managed. The AFC has documented confirmation too from NCN that it is a financially robust entity and consequently hardly in need of a government subvention, particularly in challenging economic times.
We note that it appears that the management of NCN has now intimated a more practical step of an employment freeze rather than making staff cuts, in spite of the Minister’s threats.
Thirdly, the Ethnic Relations Commission is an illegally constituted entity and to allocate funding to it would be an official stamp of approval on illegality. There can be no reason submitted to ask the National Assembly to approve illegality.
Fourthly the AFC wishes to emphasize that contrary to PPP propaganda no monies were cut for the LCDS projects. The government, despite promises and protestations has not received a single cent from carbon credits. The opposition could not therefore cut monies which are not there. If funds are received then the opposition will approve a supplementary appropriation.
To approve LCDS funds which are practically non-existent is an exercise in reckless economics which has become a hallmark of the PPP administration.
AFC implores the Guyanese people not to be duped by the cheap politicking and fear-mongering of the desperate PPP administration which has demonstrated its unwillingness and an unwavering aversion to cooperation. The PPP apparently believes, as it has demonstrated by refusing to consult on the budget, that it has some inexplicable inalienable right to govern Guyana despite its minority government. As part of the opposition which represents the views of the majority of Guyanese, the AFC will not condone this depraved PPP thinking and their consequent actions.
We commit to working in a spirit of true cooperation and compromise and mutual respect while cognizant of the realities and hardships facing the Guyanese people after two decades of either incompetent or unsatisfactory management of the economy.
Yours faithfully,
Sixtus Edwards
General Secretary
AFC
