‘This budget is a colossal failure’

– Opposition Leader says

Describing the National Budget as a major disappointment, Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon said the ongoing consideration of the 2020 Budget Estimates and Expenditures has confirmed the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change’s (APNU+AFC’s) contention that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration has failed to adequately address the needs of the working class at a time when Guyana is faced with a major health crisis.
“The APNU+AFC is appalled by the callous treatment of ordinary Guyanese by the PPP regime, particularly public servants – our health care workers, our teachers and our joint services,” the Opposition Leader said during a virtual press conference on Friday morning.

Maintaining that the $330B Budget is “defective, divisive and deceptive,” Harmon said that it is designed to benefit the financiers of the PPP/C. From the onset, the APNU+AFC had described the budget as a private sector budget, and according to the Opposition Leader, the “PPP fat cats” are now lining up to cash in at the treasury.
It was posited the budget provides little or nothing for the working class.
“APNU+AFC believes that a zero increase in salary for public servants is an insult, a deception and a betrayal of the hard-working men and women of Guyana, including our teachers who delivered such outstanding results at the National Grade Six Assessments; our nurses, doctors and staff in the health sector who have been toiling on the frontlines, at risk to themselves and their families, to keep the majority of us safe during the COVID-19 pandemic; and the members of our joint services,” the Opposition Leader said.

On the campaign trail ahead of the 2020 General and Regional Elections, the PPP/C had promised a 50% salary increase for public servants, however, there was no such increase this time around. Instead, the Government budgeted $150M for frontline workers and has disclosed that the Joint Services would be provided with a two weeks tax-free bonus, however, nurses, who are currently protesting, have described the budgeted sum as “chicken feed.”

Instead of increasing the salaries of public servants across the board, the Opposition said, the Government has opted to provide itself with $95M for the purchase of high-end luxury vehicles for the President Irfaan Ali, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and Prime Minister Mark Phillips. In addition to the $95M, an additional $13M has been set aside for the purchase of an off-road vehicle for Prime Minister. .

The Opposition has also denounced the decision of the Government to spend millions of dollars to repaint State House notwithstanding the fact that it was just a few years ago repainted under the APNU+AFC Administration.

“This is the height of wasteful extravagance and misuse of public funds which have become the hallmark of the PPP in government,” Harmon said.

The APNU+AFC, during its five-years in office, increased salaries by 26%, 10%, 9%, 7% and 9% annually from 2015 to 2019. The minimum wage went from $39,570 in May 2015 to $70,000 in 2019.
“Over the last five years the Coalition Government increased significantly the wages and salaries of the men and women of our Joint Services. These increases will have a direct, positive impact on their pensions. In what can only be described as a bare-faced lie, the PPP’s campaign promise of a one-month bonus to our brave men and women in uniform, has been reduced to a two-week ‘freck’. Another broken PPP promise.  Another PPP deception.  Another PPP lie,” Harmon told the press.

He said the APNU+AFC Coalition in just five short years, restored public confidence in government, improved the management of the state, renewed local democracy and defended robustly, the country’s territorial integrity.

“Unfortunately, this regime is more interested in witch-hunting, mass firings, weaponization of law-enforcement agencies and the filing of frivolous charges. This has resulted in many single mothers being on the breadline during this difficult time, and an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear all across the country,” the Opposition Leader said.

Instead of building on the developmental agenda set by the APNU+AFC, Harmon said the PPP/C Administration has opted to sow seeds of division, despair and desperation but the Opposition will not stand idly by and allow the country’s treasury to be pillaged and the nation divided through political hostility and ethnic disunity.