Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, in defending Budget 2021 on Monday said that the PPP/C’s philosophy in its budgets has always been pro-poor and pro-development while the APNU+AFC’s philosophy is anti-people and anti-growth, aimed only at heavily taxing Guyanese citizens.
The Minister presented on the final day of the debates, primarily providing a review of the APNU+AFC’s governance based on her Government’s assessment. She outlined several sectors within Guyana which she said the Coalition mismanaged and cases in which she said former Ministers put themselves first instead of the people they serve.
During her presentation, Teixeira also responded to criticisms leveled by APNU+AFC Members of Parliament during their presentation. She said that while the APNU+AFC has criticized the PPP/C for firing public servants, the coalition fired “thousands of people” during its tenure with Amerindians being the largest number of persons within one group to be fired.
Meanwhile, she said that the political party churned out a narrative of social cohesion, seeking to fool the population and themselves. The Minister added that some 30,000 jobs were lost under the former Government due to the wrong policies and priorities and Guyanese were denied proper health care due to mismanagement of the sector.
“You treated us as second-class citizens, you took away the hope of people in the future, you undermined trust and confidence, people didn’t know how they were going to make it…you have to apologize to the people for what you did to them,” Teixeira said.
On the contrary, she said that citizens can now look forward to new hope under the PPP/C. She said that the expansion and diversity of the economy has commenced to repair the damage made in the recent past.
The Minister also highlighted that much resources and effort is going towards the national COVID-19 fight to prevent public harm. She said: “We are the enablers and the facilitators to make sure that our people are able to reach the heights that they’re supposed to have; to get the opportunities to do that, to get the support of the Government and whatever goods and services we offer.”
