I wouldn't go that far to call them AFC/APNU prostitutes. I would say that they are very clever and tactical strategists who used their one seat majority to do whatever they wanted with the PPP.  If they wanted to cut the Budget by 50% or more they could have done it and the PPP could not have stopped it. As I said before the APNU/AFC exposed the PPP as a pack of jokers running the country. A new election should have been called from the day Raphael Trotman became Speaker. But after the election, like before the PPP took the people for granted. To them its `taking the easy route`. Well they prefer the `rough route`. What they complaining about now. 

i DISAGREE WITH YOU. THE PRESIDENT IN GOOD FAITH WORKED WITH THE OPPOSITION DESPITE THEIR ROTTEN HISTORY. NOW THAT ALL THE GUYANESE PEOPLE HAVE SEEN WHAT THEY ARE ABOUT, IT IS TIME FOR PRESIDENT RAMOTAR TO PLAY HIS HAND, NOW AS IN THIS MINUTE. WHAT WILL BE, WILL BE. GOD BLESS GUYANA!!!!!!!

You are lucky the PPP collectively  have a few IQ points on average than you and know their chances better in a quick return to the polls.

Dismantling nepotism and excesses of a patronage system sustained by it was inevitable.

Would you work in good faith with people who have shown you repeatedly that they are untrustworthy and down right destructive and nasty.

Sometime you have to give a last chance. Prez Ramotar was RIGHT to do so since many were saying that Jagdeo was Undemocratic.

Damage done already. 

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.

THE PRESIDENT WILL BE VERY FOOLISH TO SIGN. HELL NO!!!!

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

Imagine that, "the PPP has faith in the ppl of the country." Since 1992, they pillaged the revenues of the citizens.

It is plain, their thiefing ways juss shows.

For once, in the entire history of the independent Guyana that the elected government just doan do as they damn well pleases.

Thanks to the electorate who gave the APNU and the AFC that one vote more than the heartness buggahs in the Punish Poor People organization.

For the Progress of Guyana-stop the thieves in the OP, Freedom House and the children of the PPP emperors.