Georgetown: Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) gave a series of presentations in the National Assembly on Budget 2022, which Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh said he welcomed.
He said they served as a reminder to the people of Guyana why they voted the APNU+AFC out of power on March 2, 2020.
The Finance Minister, speaking pointedly about the address made by outgoing Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon earlier that night, said that his address reminded the world at large why the APNU+AFC was defeated by a motion of no confidence on December 21, 2018, just three years after assuming office.
The Opposition MPs devoted much of their time in the week to condemning the current government’s policies as anti-poor. And like Dr. Singh, just about all of the speakers on the government’s side demonstrated how APNU+AFC’s record constituted hypocrisy.
Dr. Singh used his address to reflect on the failed promises contained within the APNU+AFC administration’s 2015 elections manifesto, such as that they would have liberalised the telecommunications sector shortly after assuming office. The Minister said in this regard, and even now, that APNU+AFC has a serious credibility issue.
“The APNU+AFC’s track record when it comes to selling pipe dreams is a long, well established track record… This problem with competence and honesty is as rife today as it has always been. All this mumbo jumbo you heard in the last week from them, is just that they tek deh eyes pass the Guyanese people,” the Finance Minister said.
Dr. Singh noted though that despite attempts to disrespect the intelligence of the Guyanese people, they are wiser given their recent experience with the APNU+AFC. He said it took only three years for the Guyanese people to taste the “bitter medicine” of APNU+AFC for them to say ‘Out you go!’
“The people of Guyana are watching, and they are far more informed than the APNU+AFC members of parliament would like to give them credit for,” Dr. Singh said.
The Minister argued that the people need credible, competent and capable leadership, and that no amount of gymnastics from the APNU+AFC can change this.
He reminded that while the APNU+AFC’s leader during its term, former President David Granger, seldom spoke to the media, His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and his Ministers meet with the media and the general public many times on a weekly basis.
“Not only are we a listening government. We are listening to all of the people of Guyana,” Dr. Singh said.
The government’s budget, the Minister said, outlines an agenda to transform Guyana in a way that generations of Guyanese have been waiting for.
The Minister said this moment in Guyana’s history is a critical turning point, and that government considers itself greatly privileged to be part of it.
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