Sugar workers and residents in Berbice took to the streets on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the combined opposition of Alliance For Change(AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) tabled motions in Parliament on Monday, to cut the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) subsidy, which can see Guyanese pay as much as 28% more on their ‘light bills’.
The APNU/AFC threatened to shave as much as GY$2B off the cash-strapped state-run power company’s 2012 subsidy, which will plunge the company further in debt.
Hundreds of Berbicians picketed the Berbice offices of APNU and AFC, demanding that the parties trash their motions to cut the estimates.
They are also demanding that the opposition which holds a slim one-seat majority in the country’s parliament to think about their welfare, since the proposed cuts can cause the government’s programme to ensure every Guyanese family receive a computer could be closed.
Sugar workers wo are on the protest lines are also demanding that the government proposed bail out of the sugar industry be allowed since it will save their jobs.
Among the slogans on the placards are “AFC anti working class”, “Ramjattan and Moses betrayed workers”, “AFC/APNU mean poverty”, as the protesters call for the motions to be dropped or fresh elections.
The joint opposition tabled separate motions on Monday to shave some GY$26B off the Office of the President’s budgetary allocations which will affect major programmes including the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF), the Low Carbon Development Strategy, the GPL, the Guyana Elections Commission, The National Parks Commission, the Guyana Energy Agency among others.
These cuts can lead to staff of these agencies being laid off.
Monday evening GPL’s CEO Bharat Dindyal warned that if the GY6B subsidy for his company is slahsed, there can be a huge increase in electricity tariffs, since the company owes fuel suppliers billions of dollars.
He also warned that the power company may be forced to cut staff and there is the likelihood of frequent power outages in an effort to cut back on fuel consumption.
According to the GPL head said that if the opposition pulls the plug on the subsidy, Guyanese will have to brace for the increases, which will be only option for the utility to survive.
” If no subvention is approved GPL would have to increase tariffs by 20 percent to raise the $6B needed to buy URL in 2012. The problem here is that there is a one-month lag between applying for a tariff increase and realizing the revenues, a period when potentially GPL would have very limited cash to buy fuel” he said in a statement.
The opposition’s motion comes even as they pressure the government not to increase the electricity tariff for Lindeners who are paying less than quarter of what the rest of the country pays for electricity.
The country’s finance minister. Dr Ashni Singh on Monday evening called for the opposition to withdraw their motions for the cuts which he described as “unjustified, alarming and surprising”
Singh said his government was surprised that the opposition will make such a
submission, even as they government and the APNU have been engaging in talks
on the budget since last week.
” Given that these talks were ongoing, it come somewhat as a surprise, the tabling of these proposed and it comes as an even greater surprise, if one peruses the cuts that are being proposed and I have to say that they are
extremely alarming to put it mildly and very surprising, in fact, I would hope and would call on the opposition to reconsider the cuts they have
proposed, both the apnu and the afc because some of them really completely defy reasons” Singh said.
The motions will be officially tabled later Tuesday.
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