There is an ugly orgy of wasteful spending by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) that is inconsistent with the economic status of Guyana at this time. High on the list is the 50 to 100 per cent pay increase Ministers gave themselves since June 2015. Junior Ministers in this Government earns a higher salary than senior Ministers in the previous People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government. A junior Minister today earns more than 0,000 than I earned even after being a Minister for 15 years. Not only did APNU/AFC dramatically increase their salaries, but also their benefits and perks. It is estimated that the increase would amount to more than billion in this term.
This does not include an obscene amount spent on upgrading residences and offices, because the residences and offices of the PPP President, Prime Minister and Ministers did not meet the standard that APNU/AFC expects. Is it true that at least two Ministers are paying more than $1 million in house rental per month? Then there is the extraordinary amounts spent on an entirely new fleet of vehicles because the vehicles the PPP Cabinet used were not luxurious enough.
There is massive wastage in employment costs, hundreds of millions each year, for many dozens of advisors and personal assistants, “jobs for the boys”, for the President and Ministers. APNU/AFC wastes more than $53 million annually (about $275 million this term) to employ advisors and personal assistants for Prime Minister Nagamootoo. Prime Minister Sam Hinds had one personal assistant.
Why the need to spend $175 million annually to rent a “house” to be used as a medical warehouse when the Ministry has a warehouse in Diamond that is less than 40 per cent occupied? What possessed them to spend $1 billion on D’Urban Park just to satisfy their ego? Why did they refurnish the Parliament Lounge to make it luxurious? Why are they spending millions on painting over public buildings green so that they can create a stupid party paramountcy image? Why do they need to spend $7 million to repaint the Founder Leader’s tomb? Why are they spending $38 million to procure new microwaves, refrigerators, wardrobes etc for the Ministry of the Presidency? Why do they need to travel so often overseas, spending millions? Why do they have to give scholarships to Ministers?
APNU/AFC’s orgasmic splurging on the people’s money is reprehensible because it is in the midst of a stagnated economy. After vehemently denying that the economy is ailing because of their mismanagement, APNU/AFC now believe that manufacturers are to be blamed for sluggish manufacturing, in the words of Finance Minister Winston Jordan. Perhaps vying for a Nobel Prize in Economics, President Granger demanded citizens get off their behinds and sell plantain chips, sugar cake, egg balls, tamarind ball, pulourie and cook-up in order to stimulate job creation and the economy. Harmon, Jordan and Nagamootoo insist that the cash flow crisis is because of subsidies to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
Mired in a stagnated economy, they now concede that there is a cash flow crisis and have implemented austerity measures. For example, they advise the public service to recycle envelopes and to be frugal in the use of electricity, water and telephones, etc. The problem is that while public servants are asked to be frugal because APNU/AFC claims a cash flow crisis, APNU/AFC is splurging without any regard for the taxpayers’ money, giving away the people’s money in corrupt deals. APNU/AFC waived more than $5 billion in payments that Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) owed the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). How do we allow a big, rich corporation to escape a payment of more than $5 billion and then impose austerity measures on public servants? Now Banks DIH is claiming more than $28 billion in refund, based on the DDL waiver. A number of other contractors have been paid off even though they have not met their obligations.
They claim that subsidies to GuySuCo are the cause of the cash flow crisis. But they ignore the $27 billion loss at the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission. They ignore that they have essentially killed SUGAR, one of the most important foreign currency earners in the country and have stagnated the rice industry, which was the second most important foreign currency earner between 2010 and 2015. The bottom line is they have been so busy slurping on the soup that they forgot to manage the economy. The economy is now stagnated, causing a cash flow crisis. Instead of reducing their extravagance, they demand that public servants be more frugal and the people pay more taxes. Their shame is boundless.
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