Shet yuh ras, yuh knoo dah nah di case.  Bu mi tink wid snap elekshuns and wid dem AFC, PNC mis-steps, PPP goa tek bak dem majority.  Nuff coolies nah
even wach di news foa undastaan wah happanin, dem juss hussling lil food, rum and gyaals and dem juss freiken dem geh feed to daags.  Dem ah goa vote an' nah knoo wah happan in parliament.  Abie pon to bai.

The interest of the Guyanese Populace should never comes in-front of partisan politics, shame of AFC/APNU

 Abie pon to bai Kindly explain or ah wha dah Bhai?

Shut yuh rass. Yuh contrack gone fuh channa. Remittances on its way.

at the end of the day I'm deeply concerned about the employees on those entities that will be out of jobs. I'm sure they have financial commitment to met. Why would politicians wanna put their citizens on the breadline? food for thought

Guh laarn fuh ketch fish and bundury crab.

The working class Guyanese are deeply disturb, especially those who were the sole breadwinners of their families

Al YUh see the PASSION on Moses face in Parliament. I think the man needs HELP. I hope his Family are paying attention. Passion and frustration should not be above doing the RIGHT thing for a Nation instead of SELF. Both Ramjattan and Moses are disappointing.

Partisan politics should never come infront of the well-being of the Guyanese populace, the AFC/APNU instantly put hundreds of Guyanese on the breadline

Go eat shit.

The working class will hurt the most should the budget cuts be enacted,what plans the AFC/APNU has for the hundreds of now unemployed Guyanese citizens

As Mits suggests go eat....

How long can the AFC play this game? The Guyanese have gotten used to a kind, gently, and free gov't. The J-Opposition is on an endeavour to put the independent election commission, GECOM, in a state of paralysis. The intention is precisely the same with the press. This is reminiscent of the LFS Burnham's move in the sixties to destroy the independent election commission which opened the door to rigged elections and tyrannical rule. The Guyanese must stand up this non-sense. We must never allow the J-Opposition to destroy GECOM. GECOM has kept the nation on a stable path for the last 20 years. Parliament must serve the interests of nation and not that of henchmen from the bygone era who are trying to make a comeback.

will be in the best interest of the Guyanese Populace to have snap elections,the PPPC was a victim of their own success, Owen Aurthur of Barbados, Kenny Anthony of St.Lucia, and Portia Simpson Miller all were victims of their own sucessess, but securing a landslide the next time they faced the electorate, a majority government awaits the PPPC in the event of any snap elections

 AFC & APNU SLASH LCDS BUDGET

- $18 BILLION DOLLARS IN PROJECTS REMOVED

THIS WILL MEAN THAT:

The Amaila Falls Project will not be able to move forward, denying Guyanese the opportunity of cheaper electricity and competitiveness of our manufacturing sector

Amerindian communities across Guyana will not be able to implement projects under their Community Development Plans and supported by the Amerindian Development Fund. Hundreds of jobs and livelihood opportunities will be lost.

Amerindian communities land titling will be curtailed

Many Small Entrepeneurs and Vulnerable Groups will be denied access to grants and low interest financing

Necessary works to the Cunha Canal (East Demerara Water Conservancy) to prevent flooding will not be able to proceed

DO THESE LEADERS HAVE THE PEOPLE’S INTEREST AT HEART OR ARE THEY MORE INTERESTED IN SCORING POLITICAL POINTS?

HAVE THEY FORGOTTEN THEIR MANIFESTO PROMISES?

IS THIS THE CHANGE THEY SAID THEY WERE GOING TO BRING?

If they want snap elections that is their right. I bet  the lot that lost their 10 to 15 thousand dollars a month perks are up in arms against Ramotar. This would be a good study of how the PPP co opts state machinery to campaign. They have to.

The WB already cripples the project by refusing to fund it in conjunction with the Chinese loan sharks. The Parliamentary tactics was to force the government to reconstitute a better plan than the one they have.

The same goes for the hapless laptop project which is simply a graft scheme.

Titling Amerind communities was never their priority. How many years are we into this? Did they not give away 1.8 million acres to an indian which they had to define?

The 2012 National budget can only become a legal instrument if it is assented to by president Donald Ramotar according to the Guyana constitution.

And INews Guyana was reliably informed that the parliament office is still to be informed if the president has signed or intends to sign the appropriation act, to make the budget a legally binding instrument

The budget which passed Thursday evening after a GY$20.9B cut by the opposition can only be implement, if it is assented to by the president.

Up to late Friday, a source at the Parliament office told INews Guyana, that they were awaiting a word from the president’s office on the siging of the “modified” budget.

The constitution of Guyana dictates that in order for the budget after its passage in parliament becomes an act (Appropriation Act) and for it to become a legal instrument, the head of state must assent to it.

The government had proposed a GY$192.8B 2012 Estimate of Expenditures to, among other things, fund a number of initiatives to improve the lives of the poor and vulnerable and stimulate economic growth.

However this did not get the support of the parliamentary opposition who shaved some GY$20.9B off the estimates before it was approved, plunging a number of initiatives, including the One Laptop Per Family, the Low Carbon Development Strategy, the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, and the Information and Communications Technology initiatives and the Marriot Hotel into doubt

The cuts will also see a number of government agencies either trim their operations or closed leaving many jobless.

But the opposition maintains that the cuts were necessary to avoid ‘over spending’ and will benifit the poor Guyanese.

The president will address the nation at 8PM Friday on the budget.

SPECIAL ADDRESS TO THE NATION BY HIS EXCELLENCY, DONALD RAMOTAR

 

Fellow Guyanese,

I had hoped to be addressing you under more pleasant and uplifting circumstances. As you know the budget presented this year was for 192.5 billion dollars

.  As you know the budget presented this year was for 192.5 billion dollars.  It was a budget which was carefully crafted to lift the quality of life of all our people.

Unfortunately the opposition AFC and APNU used their one seat majority to cut the budget by some 20.9 billion dollars.

These cuts appear to be motivated by a desire of the AFC and APNU to undermine the progress.

The implications of the cuts are wide ranging.  In the first place, they could result in many ordinary working people losing their jobs.  This will place new burdens on these persons, many of whom are the bread winners of their families.  In this regard the cuts are heartless. Secondly, the cuts threaten the financing of the many transformative projects which were intended to boost economic growth, create thousands of jobs and ensure increased benefits for all Guyanese. In this way the cuts imperil the future of our young people.

 

They have even voted against funds coming into the country to finance projects like the flagship Amaila Falls Hydro Power Station which is so critical to reducing the cost of electricity and which would have allowed us to reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels and boost manufacturing including agro-processing and industrialization.

Particularly affected are our indigenous and hinterland communities. The shears of the Opposition have injudiciously severed the Hinterland Electrification Project which would have seen eleven thousand solar energy systems being provided to interior residents in 150 communities.

The Opposition has also vindictively butchered a project for land titling for Amerindian communities as well as a micro and small enterprise initiative that would have provided small grants and support to small entrepreneurs.

It has scalped the country’s ambitious ICT programme which would have promoted increased investments and created numerous jobs for our people. In addition, the cuts have crippled the Ethnic Relations Commission and undermined our fight against narco-trafficking. Through these poisonous acts, the Opposition seems determined to slow down and eventually halt the impressive growth taking place under the PPP/Civic Government.  Using the dictatorship of one which they have in Parliament they want to stymie further progress obviously in the hope that if they can stop the development of our country they would advance their political mission which is to take power. even if is at the expense of ordinary Guyanese well-being

 This is most reckless and irresponsible and reflects the undemocratic nature of APNU, a creature of the PNCR, and the AFC which is led by bitter men obsessed with achieving personal power.

 I do not make these statements lightly.  I say this because they have done this foul deed after we had long meetings over six days during which the government provided exhaustive answers to all their concerns and offered reasonable responses to their demands.

 In the course of these engagements, we had reached agreements with APNU which they subsequently reneged on, fearing that the AFC would steal political support from them, and bowing to pressures from extremists in and outside of their ranks.

 We demonstrated goodwill from the beginning in increasing the old age pension to ten thousand dollars per month.  That alone would cost the treasury more than one billion dollars.

 More than that we agreed on a package of measures to assist the citizens of Linden where we agreed to implement a phased reduction in subsidies which would see the citizens of that mining community paying only a half of the tariff which the rest of the country is paying.

 The adjustment in the subsidy became necessary because it is unsustainable.  The price of fuel increased from US$5 – $7 per barrel in 1992 to US$120 per barrel today.
Moreover, by gradually aligning the tariffs with the rest of the country, we hope to encourage greater conservation of energy in Linden. At the moment the per capita household consumption in Linden is almost three times that of households in the rest of Guyana. Yet during the negotiations both the AFC and APNU were inflexible on this issue.

On the issue of reduction in the Value Added Tax which they proposed, we told them that we believed that a study was needed before any action was taken. However, we indicated that we were willing to sit with them to agree on extending the list of zero- rated items.  This we believe is a more targeted way to assist persons considered to be low income earners.

On the reduction of the toll fees on the Berbice River Bridge, we pointed out that the company, BBCI running that entity was a private company. We pointed out that some very important public institutions had invested in the bridge, including the NIS and New Building Society.  We went over with them how the fees were arrived at.  They were advised also that we were putting back a ferry to cross the river to correct the disadvantage that school children and workers in the Rosignol and West Bank Berbice may experience since the bridge became operational. Moreover, we asked them to consider the implications for investors in our country were we to do what they demanded – to nationalize the Bridge and make it a state company. We told them that that would put us in a bad position since we had agreed with the investors on a rate of return and that the bridge will become government owned after twenty years of operation. This too they rejected.

We also agreed to the creation of a Depressed Community Fund and proposed its funding of over 2 billion dollars for 2012 through an allocation of 1% of VAT revenue collections in 2011.

 

My Dear country men, women, and youth:

The PPP/Civic has always been ready to consult and to meet with the opposition and all stakeholders in the interest of advancing the socio-economic interests of our people. Even before I was sworn in as President, I agreed to meet and did meet the opposition parties.  We met on other occasions at short notice to discuss matters of national interest.
On my instruction, the contracts of all the projects which they queried were made available publicly and to APNU and the AFC.  We also laid in Parliament all the documents they requested in relation to projects. I even invited them to a full presentation of the Amaila Falls Project in which all their questions were answered.  We even told them that if they had any other questions or concerns we were willing to answer them. We have been open and frank at all times with the Opposition.

 

Unfortunately, the combined Opposition has conspired and ended up retarding the development taking place in the country. Their actions now threaten the many transformative projects that your government has started and delayed the commencement of others in the pipeline. By putting workers on the breadline, they have demonstrated a callous and mean-spirited attitude. The inexplicable and unfathomable cuts instituted by the opposition to our National Budget constitute an ominous threat to the livelihood of Guyanese and to future generations. These reductions in our Budget provisions assail not just workers rights but also threaten to reverse the gains which our people, through hard work and sacrifice, have earned over the years. The cuts constitute an assault on workers, their living standards, on economic growth, national unity, freedom of expression and our democratic gains.

In spite of this, my faith in dialogue remains undiminished. I still hold to the view that dialogue with all Guyanese, including the political parties, is the best way for us to narrow our differences and reach consensus on the way forward. However dialogue cannot be constructive or productive when the other side is intransigent or adopt an “all or nothing” posture.

I remain optimistic. I have inestimable [profound] faith in the people of this country and their ability to overcome the challenges presented by the developments of the past few days.

I want to assure all Guyana that the steps and decisions I take in the coming period will be guided by the national interest and commitment to the well-being of the people of this country. I am confident that we will overcome the present setback.

Thank You

The Opposition has also vindictively butchered a project for land titling for Amerindian communities as well as a micro and small enterprise initiative that would have provided small grants and support to small entrepreneurs.

.........................................................................................................

These folks are too often overlooked.

Gerhard has faithfully and intentionally left out most of the vindictive cuts. He has lost all credibility and has now joined the sinking AFC ship.

Gerhard chose to post AFC filth defending madmen like Moses and RUNjattan.

It is disgraceful to see him defending the AFC.

Sheer puke being brought up here.

Cain - go back and sleep in cold cold cold pucci canada. Gerhard nah lef out nothing the man just hinding his lil thiefing poqui

 Another low life. It sees the PPP farm raise you misfits as its supporters.

The AFC and APNU are the same, they don't care about the small man. They will not be going back to Parliament with the usual seats. We will vote them out.