Concerned at the number of employment visas being granted to foreign nationals, Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix yesterday said the government will be seeking to ensure “fair play,” particularly since the labour force for some of the jobs can be sourced by citizens.
“Under the previous administration, they had no regards for Guyanese labour… they build a Marriott with labourers from abroad… our people should not be left to look on at others who come in and enjoy the same jobs that they can perform,” Felix said during his contribution to the budget debate last evening.
Felix told the House that concerns have been raised over locals not being “given a fair play” in the interior, where they see lands being occupied by foreigners.
In this regard, he informed that in 2012, 1,050 persons received employment visas and out of this figure 991 were Brazilians and 24 were Chinese. In 2013, he said 462 Brazilians were granted employment visas, while in 2014, of the 744 employment visas issued, 694 were issued to Brazilians. In 2015, he said, 304 employment visas were issued, out of which 236 were granted to Brazilians.
Noting that government is not against foreign investment, Felix emphasised the need for equality. “What we are saying is that Guyanese must have an equal play. That is what we want. We don’t want to have a lopsided situation where our own people cannot have access to our lands to do what the foreigners are doing,” he added.
He pointed out that employment visas have been issued to cooks and labourers, which are jobs Guyanese can perform.
According to Felix, the Granger administration intends to accommodate foreign investments but at the same time it wants the people to benefit from the inflows. He also emphasised the need to ensure that the interests of Guyanese citizens are protected and preserved and that the country’s borders and ports are not violated.
He said that his ministry is not self-accounting, hence its financial allocations are addressed within the budget of the Ministry of Presidency. He also noted that the concept of citizenship as part of the government structure is based on a recommendation outlined in the Discipline Forces Report. As he went on to describe the portfolio of the ministry, inclusive of its tasks and its various departments, he had to endure occasional heckling from the other side of the House.
Further, Felix also praised Minister Winston Jordan’s first budget and he said he has demonstrated a clear understanding of the country’s developmental needs. As he spoke of the release of VAT on a number of food items and the benefits it brings, members of the opposition heckled. “Yuh seh yuh gon reduce VAT now yuh telling we only sausage,” Irfaan Ali shouted.
Felix also highlighted other measures, such as the increase in the old age pension, which he said the government did in its first year in government. “Is because of what we left in the treasury. Yall ain’t left nothing,” an opposition MP shouted.
Fat cats
Opposition member Joseph Hamilton, during his presentation, criticised the scrapping of the $10,000 cash grant for parents of school-aged children. “A single mother who has five school-age children is poor at the moment by $47,500 when she is preparing to outfit her children to send them back to school,” he said, while noting that in 2014 she would have received $50,000 from the cash grant programme and $7,500 from the school uniform programme. “This uncaring government has made available for her and her five children in 2015 only $10,000 through the uniform programme,” he said, while adding that the government in ending the grant will be robbing school children of $1.3B.
Amidst support from his colleagues, Hamilton charged that the sum would be used to pay contract employees, while the poor children are left to suffer. “When you examine the allocations of contract workers, as I said this expenditure has increased by $1.4B over 2014. Most of it will go to the fat cats…,” he said to uproar from his side of the House. “My friends in the government, before they got into government, promised the Guyanese people that they will be rearing only lean cats but what we are seeing by an increase of $1.4B for contract workers, they are rearing only fat cats,” he added.
He said that what the government has done was to “take milk out of the cups of the children of the poor and has put scotch and champagne into the glasses of their cronies.”
Turning his attention to the advisors that have been hired by government, Hamilton said, “I am told that very shortly the government will appoint advisors for dog bathing, cat feeding and rat catching.”
He also said citizens were told that it is time for youth but when one looks at the government side of the House, all they would see is “30 shades of grey.” “The government, they have been unfaithful to their own young people. Do you think they would be faithful to the youths of this country? The answer is no,” he added.
Hamilton also said the budget was weak on social reform, particularly with respect to women and girls. He added that there were no short term initiatives and benefits for single mothers. “The mothers of this country were robbed,” he declared, before also accusing the government of deception on the public service wage increases.
When he began talking about crime, government MPs heckled “Rohee…ask Rohee,” in reference to the former PPP/C minister.
Fresh approach
Meanwhile, Junior Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs Valarie Garrido-Lowe described the budget as a stepping stone to enhancing the lives of the indigenous people. “The fresh approach that our APNU+AFC government is taking, the vision of our president, the one Guyana concept is the vehicle that is going to take the hinterland and indigenous brothers and sisters out of poverty,” she stressed.
She added that specific reference to the hinterland in the budget gives the indigenous people hope that they will be provided with the same developmental apparatus as those persons living on the coast.
Garrido-Lowe stressed that the budget speaks of many benefits for the indigenous people and noted that a significant portion of old age pensioners are of indigenous ancestry.
She assured that government will work on getting potable water to every rural and indigenous community.
“As an indigenous minister, I see the many strides being made to enhance the hinterland community while as an indigenous woman I am proud and excited about the prospects for a good life for all under this new government,” she said to cheers from her colleagues.
Opposition MP Vishwa Mahadeo during his speech challenged the government to show maturity in continuing the success story of the rice industry. He later told the House that this year’s budget presentation is the worst he has ever heard.
