Dear Editor,
Reference is made to your editorials “Budget 2021” (Feb 15) and “Parliament” (Feb 28). Thank you for excoriating the Members of Parliament and the Speaker. But what was delivered as a debate (certainly on February 22) was not really a debate as you rightly editorialized. In their remarks, Members of Parliament said virtually anything that came to mind, totally unrelated to the budget. In a debate, MPs are supposed to comment on the negatives and or positives of the allocation in sum or in parts to demonstrate to the government why it would (or not) achieve goals and objectives and how and why communities or businesses would (or not) be enhanced. MPs can also advise alternatives or varied amounts for each line item. Noted Guyanese scholar Dr. Ramesh Gampat who worked with the World Bank and the UN did an extensive analysis of the February 12 budget. Dr. Gampat constructed a model or framework and proceeded to analyze the budget through the lens of this model/framework.
He not only analyzed the budget but provided a framework how an analysis of a budget should be conducted. One disagreement I have with Dr. Gampat – he claims a budget is supposed to be an economic tool and it is indeed so in developed countries although one can’t separate politics from economics. In Guyana and Third World countries, a budget is primarily a political tool on how to retain political support and build on it. By definition, a budget is not a purely political instrument and by practice it is not a purely economic instrument; it is both but still lacks the nuances of a “political economy” instrument. The debate in parliament (which is essentially a political process) and the implementation of the budget, would require two additional elements – namely the impact of the budget on the nation and indicators to gauge the extent to which projects in the budgets achieved their goals. Those were not undertaken in parliament during the debates. The Finance Minister may address these issues in his summary and response.
Yours truly,
Dr. Vishnu Bisram