Time right for government of national unity

ALLIANCE For Change (AFC) Member of Parliament (MP), Mr. Moses Nagamootoo declared in the National Assembly Monday night, that the time is ripe for a Government of National Unity.

In his contribution to the 2014 National Budget Debate, he said: “We, in Guyana, have tried all kinds of financial medicines but Guyana is still limping. We need a new political and social profile. We must give reconciliation and political unity a chance.”
The former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Minister suggested: “We can re-invent ourselves and rewind the tape to 1953, when there was racial and political unity. As Antonio Gramsi has said in his Prison Notebook, the old is dying but the new is yet to be born.
“The new is a government of national unity and this Good Parliament could be its midwife.”
Nagamootoo said the 2014 Budget Debate is not unlike those of 2012 and 2013, sadly characterised by a sharp and noisy division of views.
But he said it is regrettable that there has emerged so much friction and fraction over this budget.
“We cannot deny the Government its right to praise its budget, but we abhor condemnation of our criticisms as being negative. Ours is not the job of the loyal choir but we have a duty as elected representatives of the people to guard the public purse,” Nagamootoo argued.

UNEXPLAINED SPENDING
He said the AFC believes that Government must not be paranoid over the role of the National Assembly to interrogate and reduce unnecessary or unexplained spending.
“It must be the duty of this National Assembly, as a whole to lower unjustified spending, lower debt and lower fiscal deficit,” the Opposition Parliamentarian posited.
He commended the Government for continuing to keep afloat social services expenditures and added that AFC proposes that these must be deemed mandatory expenses and as people’s entitlements, which must have a fixed percentage of the National Budget.
“We propose that old age pensions must be linked to the cost of living index to make it not a wage but a living entitlement. It is demeaning to our senior citizens to haggle every year over their needs and over what they justly deserve,” he submitted.
Nagamootoo proposed: “We could help redeem the nation’s self-esteem and integrity if we were to adopt prudent fiscal management of our limited resources. We could rake in all revenue streams; we could demand a fair price for national assets like land, radio frequencies and mineral rights; we could combat corrupt practices that allow good monies to be squandered in poorly executed projects or for expired drugs that we, routinely, dump or fritter away in private purses through bribery and graft, instead of brushing these under the table.”
He emphasised: “We could cut down on sinecure employment for party faithfuls and plumb contracts for favourites; extravaganza, foreign trips with perks, waste and pork barrel projects.”

(By Clifford Stanley)