Budget unleashes economic warfare on Guyanese – Lumumba

…decries lack of a comprehensive developmental plan

The coalition A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government has, through its 2017 Budget unleashed economic warfare on the citizenry of Guyana—warfare that could in fact lead to class warfare.

Peoples Progress Party/Civic (PPP/C) frontbencher in the National Assembly Odinga Lumumba put forward this theory to the House as he gave his presentation to the debates on the 2017 Estimates on Wednesday.
Advancing his arguments, Lumumba sought to impress on the House that the sustenance of communities must take precedence and pointed to operations in the USA which supports his arguments.
According to Lumumba, the train system in the United States is operated at substantial losses annually, but is sustained through heavy subsidies by the administration.
This obtains, according to Lumumba, since the authorities in the US recognise the importance of the transportation between the communities they connect and the nexus it holds to the development of those communities. “If the train system collapses, imagine what would happen to the economy of these communities,” Lumumba said, as he drew reference to public statements by officialdom with regards the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

Sugar belt
He juxtaposed his arguments with the operations of the bauxite industry against that of the sugar industry.
“We cannot do a balancing act,” Lumumba said in reference to bauxite and the sugar belt.
According to Lumumba, the economic genocide that faces the sugar belt also faces the entire Guyana, “the APNU/AFC coalition is unleashing class warfare on the people of this country,” Lumumba stated.
Turning his attention to some of the allocations in the 2017 Budget for infrastructural development, Lumumba lamented that the billions have not been tied to any long-term developmental plan.
According to Lumumba, the Finance Minister has failed to deliver a comprehensive plan for the billions to be spent on a partial road—a road touted to link Guyana and Brazil through the Linden/Lethem trail.

Lack ingredients
The Opposition MP told the House that the 2017 Budget lacks the fundamentals for infrastructural development and its relationship to economic growth.

Declining economy
Turning his attention to the much vaunted change and transformation that has permeated Guyana, Lumumba said there has been change and transformation, but for the worse.
He used as example, the news that one of Guyana’s largest indigenously owned Supermarkets—Nigel’s—is now scaling back its operations given the prevailing economic climate.
According to Lumumba, business in Guyana has declined by between 30 per cent and 50 per cent.
Lumumba also used as example of transformation that a bandit was brazen enough to shoot and rob and man in the Finance Ministry’s compound in the face of armed security personnel.
He also noted that despite the fact that the industry is currently the most successful sector in country, Ministers Winston Jordan has instead produced a Budget that will increase the hardships on the small miners.
According to Lumumba, the Budget in fact attempts to drive small and medium scale miners into the twilight zone. He said that as Chair of the Parliamentary Natural Resources Committee he was disappointed with the lack of allocations for the industry.
Lumumba has since called for immediate consultations between the relevant Ministers and stakeholders in order to prevent the rapid destruction of a vibrant industry.
He used his opportunity to contribute to the debates by addressing the emerging oil and gas sector, and cautioned against the pitfalls associated with the industry. According to Lumumba, the industry if handled correctly, can in fact bridge the gap between classes and race in Guyana.
He suggested that if mishandled however, Guyana can attract a fate that befell Nigeria where few will reap the benefit and many will suffer, “the few will gain the benefits and the many will suffer.” Government, he said, should have already presented to the Parliament, “a plan as to how the potential revenues would be spent or utilized.”
According to Lumumba, “already the few rich in Guyana are getting richer from the initial investment from the oil and gas companies,” while “the many are watching and hoping.” (Gary Eleazar)