Budget figures doctored – APNU…$$$B bailouts come under intense scrutiny as debates get underway
The 2014 Budget debates commenced yesterday in earnest with government speakers lauding the allocations and opposition speakers lamenting the lack of consultation, questionable bailouts and figures.
Leading off the debate was A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Chief Financial spokesperson, Carl Greenidge, who accused the Substantive Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, of doctoring the figures in order to achieve a balance.
“If you look at revenue and expenditure you will see that,” said Greenidge.
Carl Greenidge
The former Finance Minister, opened his presentation by reminding the House that without a majority, the business of the House has to be undertaken with the understanding that if Government programmes are to be implemented, there needs to be compromise.
He did point out that while there were initial tripartite discussions where many proposals were submitted they did not yield any fruit and further the talks broke down.
Government, he said, is in receipt proposals that can capture consensus as well as a process to serve as a blue print to deal with budget discussions.
Despite the efforts, “we come to budget 2014 without going anyway significant to dealing with challenges that give rise to the confrontation in the first instance.”
Greenidge added that the combined opposition had in the past cut monies for a variety of agencies and “if we are aware that we have taken certain routes in the past and if we do not want to ensure a repeat, then we have to pay attention to establishing modalities to deal with things that majority have identified as problematic.”
He warned also that the manner in which the estimates are formulated, APNU is still of the view that the format is not consistent with constitutional requirement.
The Former Finance Minister said that some of the “broader issues identified in our exchanges have not been adequately treated.”
According to Greenidge, the Finance Minister has set lofty goals in the budget, but youngsters instead want to leave the country.
He said that APNU wanted to see in the budget goals in cutting waste and corruption as well as Government addressing the quality of service it provides.
Greenidge suggested that the 2014 Budget should have also addressed the regulatory regimes and benchmarks to enable the targets set.
The Minister’s goals, he said, are very desirable but it is unlikely that they will be realized.
He said that in his budget presentation, the Minister spoke of achievements made since 2002 and spoke of how much was spent, “but at the end of the exercise, we still have to ask ourselves if the expenditure had the intended impact.”
He lamented the fact that despite the cuts made the budget in the past, the Government made the contemptuous inclusion of estimates, despite calls for information to be provided to APNU for entities such as NCN and GINA, before they can consider allocating money for those agencies.
Greenidge also took to task the more than $6B proposed bailout for the ailing Guyana Sugar Corporation.
He said that Dr. Singh in his budget presentation talked of soon to be appointed board but there was not a word about the demand for the board to enhance their competence and be less politicized.
Finance Minister,
Dr Ashni Singh
Greenidge conceded that the sugar is an important sector where special attention has always been given, “we have provided considerable support in the past.”
He noted it is clear that the industry is important and deserves attention but there also needs to be a plan in place to ensure that the problems facing the industry are fixed
“It is important enough to warrant financial assistance but this must be conditional on Government showing that it will be remedying the difficulties that landed them in hot water in the first place.”
He said that the problem is not sugar workers but rather it is the Government policies coupled with a board filled with political appointees, and managers who are afraid of their own shadows.