The government is making efforts to rebuild a country destroyed under the PPP/C’s rule, according to APNU+AFC MP Michael Carrington, who yesterday urged the opposition to support this year’s proposed $230 billion national budget.
“Why condemn it? You support it and wish that… if you get in government you get a better country to run,” Carrington said in his fiery contribution to the 2016 budget debate in the National Assembly.
He told the House that having heard opposition speakers Irfaan Ali and Charles Ramson Jnr before him, he had to put his written speech aside. “I realise I had to deal with them differently,” he said.
Carrington said that government through its budget is attempting to lay the foundation to stimulate growth and restore confidence, while creating development.
“Mr Speaker, as I listen to them, they keep condemning this budget… it seems like nothing in this budget is good, everything in this budget is bad,” he said.
Carrington rubbished Ali’s claim of a downturn in the economy being the fault of government. He said while what was being said is factual, it was a situation created by the opposition while it was in government. This resulted in heckles and a ruckus from the members of the government side of the House as they made it clear that they were backing Carrington all the way.
“They created a downturn in this economy. We are in government seven months. This is our second budget and I must give us a big clap. We have done well in this seven months,” he said as spoke of how government has been cleaning up the city and other surrounding regions.
“Mr [David] Patterson [Minister of Public Infra-structure] is doing well. I must congratulate him. The Honourable Mr Patterson is doing well in nearly all the regions. He is helping in all the regions,” he said, while adding that the opposition is condemning the budget without “going around and seeing the reality…and development all over Guyana. The only person that can’t see development they have to be blind.” He charged that based on what Ali said people owe banks billions of dollars and are unable to repay. “The reality is over the years we continue to have high bank interest. Very high bank interest. If you have high bank interest then it becomes difficult for you to repay your loan,” he said before adding that there is also the high compound interest for people to deal with.
He said the government had inherited a financial system which did not protect borrowers. “If you read the Financial Institutions Act, there is no part in it protecting borrowers. So you have a situation in Guyana where many persons in Guyana take loans to build their house, take loans to buy cars, they take loans to open business and if you have a high interest rate it puts you in a lil difficulty to have additional money to spend,” he said.
He laid the blame of high interest rates at the feet of the former PPP/C government. “That’s the reality and they know that. …Tomorrow, if you raise all the salary of the people in Guyana, you would be faced with other difficulties… you’re faced with what you call exploitation,” he said.
Carrington assured that government will “stimulate development. After we spend this $230 billion Guyana will blossom. The big fear of this opposition is fear of us spending this money.”
Carrington said that so long as certain financial systems are fixed and in place to ensure there is low interest and to replace the high compound interest, “then persons will be able to invest. It is difficult to invest now. To borrow loans and pay such a high interest.”
He said while it may look as though government has broken its promise, that is not the case.
He also criticised the opposition for failing to come up with economic plans for the regions they would have won in the last elections. Such plans, he opined, would address job creation in each region. He added that there are regions producing just rice with no value-added products. “For 23 years you in government and no value-added products in Region Two. Something is wrong. For 23 years in Berbice, producing a lot of rice, you are not producing chick feed, you are not producing cereals or anything. Why? Because you just didn’t educate the people to produce the things to create jobs for the people,” he said.
Looking directly at members of the opposition, he told them that while in office they never educated the people living in the regions that they won. Speaking about sugar factories in Region Three, he told them that they never educated persons there to produce, “a sweetie, a chocolate, a candy and now you come to condemn this budget. I can’t understand basically what you are doing. You have to be conscienceless to do that. The past government condemning this government. We have [been] eight months in government… You bet by time this year end when they see the beauty of this city…nobody [would] want to run out of Guyana they would want to come back to Guyana,” Carrington said to loud cheers of support from the government side of the House.
He said that government came and met the country destroyed but it will be corrected. “I love my country and I will stay in my country and I cannot be a hypocrite when I see wrong I will say it is wrong… and I think that the other side should look at this budget and they themselves should support this budget.”
Meanwhile, Ramson said he could not support a budget that “will increase and promote youth unemployment.” He spoke of people on the streets complaining about lack of details from government and lack of professionalism.
He questioned why a supposedly completed youth employment policy has not been brought to the House and circulated. “Why haven’t we [the opposition] been consulted about it? We are still the representatives of everybody in this nation, just like you are. It should have been placed here,” he said, while also taking a shot at the lack of young people in the cabinet.
“Stop using young people to get elected… for our ideas and then when it comes time to make the appointments you leave us out in the cold and this nation is left with a real GoG—a Government of Geriatrics,” he added, while stating that the PPP had lots of young ministers in its Cabinet.
