Mr Speaker, I take the floor to make my contribution to this 2018 National Budget debate. In so doing, I join with my colleagues on this side of the House to express my strong disagreement and disappointment with the 2018 Budget especially with the several anti-people policies that the Budget is rife with.
Mr Speaker, many Guyanese, having seen the eye-catching and costly billboards advertising the Budget, must have had high expectations from the Budget, and are looking forward to a brighter tomorrow and a better life for their offspring. Alas, Budget 2018 has dashed their hopes. Instead our people themselves being pushed ever closer to life’s precipice and not to the promised ‘Good Life’. Mr Speaker, the low bar that the Administration has reached has made me wonder if what Mr Christopher Ram recently said about lethargy in the Government is indeed true. Really, it is not difficult to reach such conclusions when one puts the 2017 and 2018 Budgets alongside each other. There we would see several projects which appeared as if new in the 2018 Budget also appearing in the 2017 Budget. Is it that the Government is recycling projects, many of which were advanced by the PPP/C Administration? It tells us that the APNU/AFC has really nothing new to offer us and Budget 2018 comes across largely as a cut and paste document, un-original and un-convincing.
Mr Speaker, it seems too that the Government, through the Budget, has gone to great lengths to obscure our harsh realities from the Guyanese people. Fanciful, eloquent language has been employed and lofty declarations have been made but as the last thirty (30) months have shown there is every likelihood that many of the measures may hardly be translated into any concrete and definitive actions at the end of it all.
The situation of the working-people
Mr Speaker, I feel it necessary to today call attention to the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots in our society. And, I see little or no emphasis being placed on uplifting and improving the lives and well-being of the working-people and their families. Undoubtedly, this glaring fact tells us where the allegiance of the Government lies.
Today, as the workers look hopefully to the Government, they are woefully let down. For the people, there is little inspiration that can be drawn from the Budget as they see the airy-fairy promise of a ‘Good Life’ receding rather than coming closer. Mr Speaker, I ask: why is the Government taking such an unsympathetic approach to the plight of the working-people who, with their families, comprise a major segment of our population?
On the matter of wages, the Minister made a lot of hay about the public servant increases. While I am happy that those workers benefitted, Mr Speaker, it is surely insufficient to meet the rising cost of living. But, besides that sad reality, the Minister glossed over the fact that the increases were not a product of the Collective Bargaining process which the Administration in its manifesto committed itself to, and which is sacredly guarded by the workers and the trade union movement. The fact that the Minister simply whitewashed the situation speaks volumes. Mr Speaker, clearly, Collective Bargaining is a meaningless talking point for this Government.
Mr Speaker, from the Budget measures one gets a vivid picture of what lies ahead. For the ordinary worker, living payday to payday, there is really nothing much that will put some more needed dollars in their pockets or make his or her life easier. Indeed, what is offerd are pressures and burdens. Mr Speaker, while the Government triumphantly speaks about the removal of taxes on vacation allowances in the private sector, a welcomed move, at the same time, I must note that many ordinary workers will not benefit from such a measure. Similarly, the Minister’s tinkering with the income tax regime will certainly not benefit very many of our ordinary workers as they cannot afford to stop working during the year.
The Administration refers boastfully to the removal of VAT on Education, also a welcome move but Mr Speaker, let us not forget the determined actions by the people for its removal. Also, we should not forget that VAT is still charged on electricity, water, private medical care, medication, school supplies and many essential and critical items. While many of the massive increases in the cost of Government services remain in place. Clearly, the pressures borne by our ordinary working people are continuing.
For our nation’s elderly, whose contribution to society we are proud of, the Government has chosen to rub salt in the deep wounds they have inflicted on them. After taking away their water and electricity subsidies, they are now being given a pittance of $500 more a month which is just about $16 a day, a pittance which can hardly buy a sweetie. What can that really do in these hard times? Mr Speaker, the Government should hang its head in shame.
A lot is being said about the tax amnesty. Such leniency and largesse will go to benefit some, but where is the benefit also for our working people the vast majority of who are facing growing hardships? This is plain and patent discrimination, Mr Speaker. For the workers, many of whom are hard-pressed, their taxes are remitted before they receive or even collect wages and salaries. There is no tax relief for them although they are deserving of such.
Mr Speaker, the Minister did indeed not introduce any new taxes at the national level, though there was little left to tax maybe except the air we breathe. However, his tax gun has turned to the local level. We are told that in the near future, properties will be re-valued indicating that higher rates and taxes are on the way.
Sugar Industry
Nowhere, Mr Speaker, has disregard, disdain and discrimination been practiced by the Administration as is seen in the sugar industry. For thousands of workers employed in the industry it is sad and painful to say that their pay rates have remained unchanged since 2014 while the Minister boastfully says that the Public Sector minimum wage rose by 50 per cent since July, 2015. Sugar workers are the exception. They see their hard won benefits undermined and the protections they are entitled to being disregarded which the Government remained docile in the face of the massive injustices perpetuated by GuySuCo. Naturally the workers are at a loss as to what is the driving force behind this attitude to them and their plight. They have reminded us, time and again, of the Government’s 2015 Elections Campaign when they are promised betterment and improvement, and the security of their jobs and benefits. But, Mr Speaker, like many other promises made by this Administration, the sugar workers are being left, literally, almost empty-handed today, jobless by the slick talking would-be leaders.
Mr Speaker, the Minister also tells us that sugar production would be presumably 152,000 tonnes, but that would represent a drop of 35 per cent between 2015 and 2017. Clearly something is definitely wrong. Evidently there is a massive failure of the industry’s leadership but the workers are being made the fall guy. We are told that 22,000 mandays were lost for the year but simple mathematics reveals for an industry with 16,000 employees, it means that each worker struck for a little more than a day. Obviously then, the strike argument is being plainly magnified to cover the tracks of mis-management and the bad treatment meted out to the workers generally.
Mr Speaker, I cannot refer to sugar without calling attention to the sad situation that the people of Wales face. The Budget avoided mention of Wales. It seems that the Administration wants us to forget about the depression and desperation that it created along the West Bank of Demerara. All the glorious plans for non-sugar diversification at the Estate location seem to have evaporated and, as we meet here, a number of workers who were retained are being let go compounding further the misery that has gripped the area.
Mr Speaker, at this time, I must place on record a strong protest that the State Paper on the Sugar Industry, presented since May this year, has not received due and rightful Parliamentary attention. This, for us of the PPP/C, is deeply disturbing especially given that thousands stand to be affected by the decisions laid out in the Paper. Is it that the Government is unsure that it can defend convincingly the wrong decisions they are taking? It appears so given that those inefficient estates are attracting several interests which should tell us, Mr Speaker, that Government’s decisions require a second, unbiased look. The mere fact that all the estates can be saved and in that process protect thousands of jobs, and assure the future of the next generations demand that the Administration undertake such a review.
Mr Speaker, as we get ready to celebrate in a few days from now, Christmas thousands of sugar workers are being made redundant and must face a dismal future. It is depressing to imagine the situation in the sugar belt at this time. This year there will be no smiles, no presents and no goodies for the children of the sugar workers. This is a heart-rending situation and will surely be assessed as a defining feature of this dispensation.
Region #3
As an MP representing Region Three (3), Mr Speaker, I wish to put on record my disappointment to note that several of the decisions of the Region are those of the REO rather than by the Regional Democratic Council which was elected by thousands of the Region’s citizens. Such an obstructionist attitude is not just a sad reflection of the responsible Ministry but, crucially affects the Region’s development and puts a brake to continuing progress. The undermining, Mr Speaker, represents too a disregard of and even disdain for democratic norms and practices which the APNU/AFC has a responsibility to uphold and which I call on them to abide by.
Conclusion
Minister Jordan regaled us by telling us that the ‘Journey to the Good Life Continues’. Indeed it is a stretched out journey with only a favoured handful really enjoying the ride. Today, while the average Guyanese is made to wait for hours in order to receive medical care at the public health facilities or pay exorbitant costs at the private institutions, our administrators are jetting off to foreign lands to receive their medical care. While the ordinary people are paying VAT on electricity and water, our Administrators do not have to foot such bills.
Mr Speaker, Budget 2018 is just another reminder of the perilous and difficult path we are on. Today, in the space of thirty (30) months, the optimistic outlook and high confidence we had have vanished and an atmosphere of despondency and gloom has stepped in. Our economy has found itself, clearly, in rough seas and the ship’s captain is at a loss to put it right.
Mr Speaker, as I conclude I am reminded by the Budget that President David Granger told all Guyanese that “A ‘good life’ is about making people happy. People will be happy when they know that they have a government which cares for them; when they see a bright future for their children and grandchildren; when they can be assured of life’s basic needs – food, clothing, shelter, safe water, safe streets, a sound education and high standards of health care.” Good words by the President. But then they do not match the reality of the thousands of sugar workers and others being sent into the army of the unemployed since this ‘caring’ Government took office. Are they not also deserving of such a life?
Mr Speaker, really, this Budget is not deserving of my support.
Thank you
