Say what, a supplementary budget already? That can’t be. If a trade union did what the PPP Government is doing, asked for another raise, it would be tarred and feathered, blasted as being amateurish and not knowing what it is doing. If a public servant were to follow the path of the moneyman, he or she would be shown the door, and told not to return. But is de guvment, so it is due a li’l break. Wha is a li’l 5% extra for Guyana’s Lord of Finance, Ashni? Dem banna dis nah easy.
Only in February, there was the latest in the string of record budgets, with the $1.146 billion for 2025 standing as the fattest and slickest, to date. Lots of pork. And to complete the circle, a whole army of pork eaters present. But now here is Dr. AK Singh in the month of May making merry (more coming up on he later) with his $57.5 billion more for PPP squanderers. These guys know money. They don’t talk in the millions anymore; they know the new lingo of chatting casually in the billions, and that is the new norm.
They know how to spend money. But, best of all, they know how to get the most out of the nation’s money. Don’t ask for whom, please. Have a conscience, fellas. Show some discretion, nah bannas! Only after three months following the Big Boom-Boom budget 2025, and Ashni Singh turn up with his hand stretched out, as though h talking about monopoly money. All Guyanese know people like that: when they finished splurging and having a good time, there they are right in front the gate (or on the phone). Deh deh baad, suh deh need a raise to tide them through till the next payday. What a culture! What a country with these kinds of characters!
But I must say that this chap Ashni Singh has some nerve. He just the used the word “sustained” in his theme for this year’s national budget, and there he is on the radar again, in his best pitee, poh, bhai mode. How bout a li’l moh change for some GTE project, cash grant, and Office of the PM, plus other government agencies. Where is the “sustained” part about which he spoke so boringly for over three hundred minutes in Guyana’s National Assembly? This minister is in the wrong business, he is a real teaser; all he needs is a piece of lumber.
In another place, a space with a proper opposition, Ashni Singh would have been chased straight back to the Maldives, or wherever he was holed up in Miami Beach. The minister of money was given a whole boatload of money back in Jan/Feb, and it is barely the middle of May, and he is back with his bag and a big smile on his mug. The minister could have taken some shame out of his face and waited until the end of June, early July.
What Guyanese don’t know is that to do so would collide with his other supplementary budgets planned for August and October. Why clog up the calendar, muddy matters with mundane things likes debates and accounting to delay the rich ring of the register! Who needs the stress? Ah, but parliament is shutting. So, just get it on with the supplementary budget for $57.5 billion, because there are more coming as the year progresses.
Guyana is now a confirmed money machine, and the PPP Government is the right regime to extract the best out of it. The right people are present, and they have the same mindset. Let’s have a bet to see who can spend more, and help themselves to some gravy along the way. When looked at another way, it is clear that the PPP Government is using supplementary budgets like credit card cash advances. Pullout the credit card and let that do the talking. Thus, the rich action begins (or continues).
Unlike regular credit cards, there is neither high interest rate as a deterrence and, best of all, the people doing the big spending don’t have to payback any money. I am singling out the big splashers in the PPP Government. and not the Guyanese people. The PPP just gave Exxon a boost in the purse with its oil prevention concoction.
To reward itself for a job well done, and while under international scrutiny, the PPP Government came up with a supplementary budget of $57.5 billion to keep the good times rolling. Guyanese should count themselves lucky, as the minister was in a restrained frame of mind. The supp could have been for $157.5 billion and not $57.5 billion. Thank the stars and stripes for small considerations. God is due a break, with all the crab dances going on in Guyana.
