About 150 persons from Amerindian communities and several government organizations protested outside Parliament yesterday, voicing their dissatisfaction over the opposition’s budget cuts.
The group congregated on Brickdam outside the St Stanislaus College and was closely monitored by uniformed police ranks. The protestors left the area shortly after Parliament convened.
Noticeably present were employees of the Government Information Agency (GINA) and the National Communications Network (NCN), some of whom walked around with placards shouting at the top of their voices.
The protestors disrupted the free flow of traffic to the Parliament buildings.
One of the protestors, who identified himself only as Farleck, and said he hails from an interior Amerindian settlement, told Stabroek News he is protesting against “the cutbacks” to the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) programme. The man said that because of the cuts Amerindians will not be able to benefit from the installation of solar panels.
Another protestor, who did not want her name published, said she is totally against the budget cuts. She said the cuts would drive Guyana deeper into poverty, as they will affect the salaries of public servants, the electricity supply to citizens and the Amerindians. She said that she will protest every day if she has to.
The opposition—A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC)—using their one-seat majority in the National Assembly last month made cuts amounting to $20.8 billion of the $192.5 billion budget originally proposed by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh. APNU and AFC cited concerns about a lack of accountability for some allocations as well as the need to trim wasteful spending in order to enable measures to address the cost of living.
The cuts were made over a two-day period.
On the first day cuts included allocations for NCN ($81.2 million cut), GINA ($130.4 million), the Guyana Elections Commission ($527 million), Office of the President ($150 million, $345 million), and Office of the Prime Minister ($6 billion).
On the second day the opposition cut all but one dollar for an allocation of $18.39 billion covering a number of low carbon projects under the Ministry of Finance, namely, the Amaila Falls Project ($16.4 billion), Amerindian land titling ($202.1 million), Amerindian Development Fund ($205 million), small and micro enterprise ($512.5 million), adaptation project – Cunha Canal $410 million and institutional strengthening of agencies connected to the LCDS $615 million.
Though government has strongly criticized the cuts saying that many, including those attached to GINA and NCN, will lose their jobs, to date there have been no reports of job losses.
Opposition Leader David Granger had said APNU and the AFC acted in the nation’s interest by making cuts to the national budget and he called on the PPP/C to return to the negotiating table and agree to introduce reasonable reforms, like a lower VAT.
