National Assembly must have regular sittings regular sittings since there are many critical decisions to be made

Dear Editor,

The two-month recess of the National Assembly came to an end on Tuesday, October 10, 2023. It is my desire to see regular sittings of the National Assembly, since there are many critical decisions to be made. I would also love to see an impartial Speaker presiding over the National Assembly, one who facilitates an environment of mutual respect during debates.

Editor, the cost of living is a perennial problem facing citizens, and the lacklustre approach by the Jagdeo/Ali regime speaks volumes. The $781.9B National Budget. approved on February 3, 2023. has an allocation of $5B, as one of several measures to address the high cost of living.

During the August 9^th, 2023 sitting, I tabled several questions surrounding this budgetary allocation. Dr. Ashni Singh responded by saying. “……. We said, very clearly at the time of the Budget, that the application of these resources will emerge from ongoing community engagements and from our assessment of the evolving global and domestic economic situation. I believe that was made abundantly and pellucidly clear, in the Budget Speech for 2023. … the interventions would be implemented during the course of the current fiscal year, and certainly before the end of the fiscal year….. Once the interventions are determined, they would be announced using the traditional and standard means for communicating government interventions, including, of course, state agencies such as the Department of Public information and other similar public communications, and of course the public communications portfolio that the Government has very ably led, managed, and discharged by my distinguished Colleague, Hon. Minister Mr. Kwame McCoy. Thank you very much, Sir.”

Editor, it has been exactly two months since the above responses were given and, as far as I am aware, there has been no disbursement of the $5B. By way of this letter, I am making a public appeal to Dr. Ashmi Singh to advise if this disbursement has been made and, if so, I am requesting disaggregated data by Region, showing how many persons benefitted and how much was spent in each region. If the disbursement is still to be made, can the Honorable Minister please state when citizens are likely to benefit from the promised assistance?

Editor, like the issues surrounding the mysterious US$214M, I hope the $5B has not disappeared and account be accounted for.

I await Dr. Ashni Singh’s timely response to my request.

Yours truly,

Annette Ferguson, MP