How to… use the oil money

The Budget Debate kicked off yesterday on the record $1.558 trillion to be spent by the government in 2026 – towards fulfilling its goals for developing the country!! Not unexpectedly, there’s a lot of attention on the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) into which our takings from oil and gold are deposited. The Opposition’s criticisms are hurled from several fronts. First is the gripe that the Fund’s withdrawals are too large – and don’t leave enough for “future generations”!! Secondly, that the withdrawals aren’t directed enough on alleviating present poverty in the country and too much on infrastructure.
Now all of this is more than a tad confusing your Eyewitness. Firstly, the PPP government had openly amended APNU’s 2019 NRF rules on withdrawals early in their term of office – in 2021! Their focus were twofold – to increase oversight, transparency and clarity of the rules for the ordinary citizen – and also to increase the percentage of the deposits for developmental purposes!! For the former, rather than having all authority over the fund fall under A SINGLE MINISTER, it was now delegated to a 3–5-member Board of Directors. Most significantly very strict reporting regulations were introduced make it harder to play games with the funds. And lastly, rather than a very complex, opaque formula for withdrawals the new formula was easy for everyone to understand!!
So, from where your Eyewitness stands – on the sidelines watching on as a very interested citizen looking for himself and the country to develop! – the gist of the complaints is that too much money’s being withdrawn!! But at the same time, they want the country to be “developed” and poverty to be reduced!! The government’s position is that for the latter goal to be achieved, the answer isn’t to depend only on cash grants!! Their philosophy is based on the premise that it’s better to teach a man to fish than give him a fish!! In Guyana’s free enterprise economy, they see their job in poverty reduction to be doing all it takes to attract jobs to Guyana – where our citizens can come out of poverty with dignity!!
Private sectors jobs will only be created when the conditions are attractive for private entities to plunk down their cash. And chief among these conditions are infrastructure of all types: roads and bridges to transport raw materials and finished products; drainage and irrigation for agriculture and fisheries; power production for factories etc…etc!! In this scenario, the government concedes that poverty won’t be eradicates with one stroke!! And is committed to some cash grants to tide folks over.
As far as future generations are concerned – aren’t they gonna inherit the infrastructure and jobs being created now!! Quit kvetching, opposition!!

…make enemies and lose friends
New LOO Sanction Man certainly ain’t done himself no favours when it comes to building alliances!! Which is essential for a new party that weaseled away most of its support from its now fellow opposition member – the APNU/PNC!! First, he gotta realise he’s not just Leader of his WIN Scrapeheads inbut of the ENTIRE Opposition!! This includes Walton-Desir’s 1-seat FGM – AND the 12-seat decimated APNU/PNC – which feels it contains “multitudes” from the WPA and the AFC that had joined its banner before the elections.
WPA’s Black Pudding Man – who Norton sent to Parliament – sees WIN’s winning the Scrapehead vote as an aberration!! He’s doing it’s darndest to remind them that Sanction Man’s as racist as they come – pointing to latter Daady’s rants!! In going straight to the Gecom Chair to have WIN select the Opposition Commissioners, he played right into Black Pudding Man’s hands by in effect firing Vincent Alexander – the latter’s chief African rights sidekick!!
No wonder they refused to meet Sanction Man!!

…debate
The PPP’s shown it has a formidable elections machinery – which it replenishes with new blood who are being blooded during the ongoing debate!! WIN’s desire to sound ‘respectable” gonna be kicked into the dust in the dust-up by PPP’s young’uns!!