Lead Opposition spokesperson on finance and economics Carl Greenidge said yesterday the Opposition would not be inclined to approve allocations under the Ministry of Home Affairs in the national budget while Minister Clement Rohee is at the helm and said Government must act to bring efficiency to the sugar industry.
He made the statements while speaking at a press conference hosted by A Partnership for National Unity at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Hadfield Street, yesterday. The $208.8 billion budget for 2013 was unveiled on Monday and the Ministry of Home Affairs has an allocation of $17.5 billion to fight crime.
Greenidge said that in examining matters of policy, the Opposition has found Government inconsistent and cited the example of the Linden shooting deaths on July 18, 2013. He said that Government came to the National Assembly and requested sums to purchase a water cannon with the aim of using less lethal methods against rioting persons. He said that the shooting incident ran contrary to the Government’s stated policy position.
“One expected that water cannon to supplement the riot squad equipment. But you suddenly found yourself in a situation when the first time after then that the Government is confronted by protests you send the water cannon, you don’t equip the Tactical Services Unit to deal with what people might regard as riots or disturbances…but guns were turned on them,” said Greenidge.
“The point is that the person responsible for the policy that killed those persons has as a consequence the Parliament expressed a vote of no confidence. What you claim as a policy has not been followed. It is more consistent with the charge that the Minister gave to the officers to come out with guns blazing,” he said.
“As far as we are concerned, we will look at the proposals that come but we will not entertain [any request on behalf of that Ministry of Home Affairs],” he said.
Speaking at the press conference, former PNCR Member of Parliament E. Lance Carberry said that the matter of Rohee should never be treated as a personal one. It is a matter which says that in the performance of function of the Minister of Home Affairs, Rohee has proven himself to be incompetent. “The Parliament has passed a motion of no confidence in him as the Minister of Home Affairs.
That is the issue here. It is not a case of something personal against Mr. Rohee…it is about Rohee as Minister of Home Affairs being incompetent in the performance of his function,” said Carberry.
Consultations
Greenidge said that the Opposition parties had committed itself to talks with the Government on the budget since the 2011 elections so that there could be common ground for the financing of programmes so that they could be approved without controversy. “But uniquely to Guyana you have a Government without a majority that seeks without trying to secure support lays a budget and invites the Opposition majority to…approve it,” he said.
“So we have a budget which the Minister indicates is a continuation of what has been on the table for the last six or seven years,” he said, adding that several passages of the budget seem to have been lifted from old ones.
Greenidge accused the PPP/C of failing to submit names to the Public Accounts Committee to be considered for the Public Procurement Commission, born out of the constitutional amendments of about a decade ago.
He said that in relation to the budget discussions that were to have taken place, one of the complaints was Government’s failure to provide information and to adhere to a number of the laws and constitutional provisions. Greenidge pointed to the Government’s aversion to ensure that key agencies such as the courts, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Audit Office and others.
“The Government in defiance of the Constitution and in keeping with the arrogance in which the budget opens has not in 2013 thought it fit to ensure that the architecture of the budget is consistent with the Constitution. This has to be a fundamental problem,” he said.
He said that the Government has failed to explain why it does not provide lump sum allocations for the courts and the other entities.
Greenidge said that there has been a switch in Government’s focus from current to capital programmes and believes that this reflects a declining emphasis on pro-poor policies. He said that it is also a reflection of the fact that the large capital programmes enable Government to provide perks to its cronies and those associated with it.
Poor and
vulnerable
Greenidge said that the Minister’s boast in the budget of seven years of positive growth in the economy is not matched by the allocation of resources to those most in need. “You speak of growth, accumulation of foreign exchange reserves, good performance in revenues and at the same time you cannot, or are not willing to match those increases with the significant redirection of resources to the poor and vulnerable.
According to Greenidge, the 10,000 offered to old age pensioners last year was meant to be in the interim pending further discussions. He said that the Opposition wanted $15,000 as old age pension.
“Those discussions never took place and we come a year after to hear the Government is not interested in paying 15,000 a month but that it is starting the payments from May instead of the beginning of the year,” he said.
Sugar
Greenidge said that Government is willing to come to the Parliament time and time again requesting funds for Guysuco with no serious attempt to turning the company around and making the changes that would see a return to productivity. He pointed to the complaints of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union – whose President is a Member of Parliament for the PPP/C – to illustrate the point that the situation in the industry is dire.
