PPP has always sought to allocate resources to communities across Guyana

Dear Editor,
The PPP/C has always viewed, and used, the National Budget as an economic instrument for managing available resources to meet the needs of our people in the communities across our country.
In this regard, the PPP/C Government has continually provided opportunities for the people and their leaders at all levels, viz: the Regional, Municipal, Neighbourhood, Amerindian Villages; private groupings such as the churches, Women’s Groups, Private Sector, and the various Chambers of Commerce etc., to express their views individually and collectively as the Government works with all parties to identify and prioritise the needs of our people in pursuit of their livelihood goals.
Thus, resource allocation through the instrument of the Budget has always been for the PPP/C Government a function of expressed needs, the estimated cost of satisfying those needs, available resources, the opportunity costs, and the ability of those who manage these resources to effectively and efficiently utilise and manage the resources.
A check of the PPP/C Government’s annual national and regional budgetary allocations from 1993 to 2015, and August 2020 to December 2022 — and may I confidently add Budget 2023 — would provide empirical evidence of the Government’s continuous determination to perennially allocate resources to meet development needs of the Guyanese people across our ten (10) Administrative Regions; not on the basis of political affiliation or ethnicity, but with due regard to what resources are available at the time; the prioritised needs of the communities; and the ability of those very communities to efficiently manage these resources.
In this regard, opportunities to access and to share resources were always available to all.
Resultantly, I ask of decent, honest Guyanese perusing this missive:
Who benefitted from improvements in education delivery and healthcare under the PPP/C Government from 1993 to 2015, and August 2020 to present?
Were the benefits confined to a particular ethnic group or supporters of a particular political party? Were the beneficiaries not residents across the ten (10) Administrative Regions?
Would it not be a fair comment if I said that each community, over the period of governance of the PPP/C, received a significant level of social development, viz: schools, trained teachers, health centres, doctors, nurses, Medexes, health workers, beneficiaries of Government funded/sponsored scholarships; new roads/airstrips etc.?
The PPP/C has always sought to enhance the well-being of the Guyanese people; not a few, or a particular group. Who have benefitted from increased allocation of resources? Check the occupancy of our housing schemes; the communities that have benefitted from extended and improved water supplies, roads, electricity, bridges. Not only have those who reside in the various loci benefitted, but also those who must traverse the areas and those who were involved in their actual construction.
When one examines the Budget as an instrument for fighting poverty and improving the quality of life of the Guyanese people, one cannot but honestly agree that the more than 25 years of PPP/C rule provides an example of how this can be achieved.
The key achievements of the PPP/C Government include not only the improvements in terms of the nature, extent and quality of the social services, infrastructure expansion and economic improvements, but also the geographic spread and distribution of these improvements across our ten Administrative Regions. In the process, Guyana moved from the bankrupted country it was in October 1992 to one wherein its people were enjoying a better standard of living as at January 2023. We managed our resources made available through the Budget fairly, wisely, and efficiently.
Further, we knew that real economic growth in a country came not vide mere taxation, but from production of goods and services, productivity, and job creation via investment, among other things. These are realities we faced.
We are enthused by the fact that the PPP/C Government continues to share and to spread the benefits of our economic successes across the ten (10) Administrative Regions of our country, even as we strive to create more economic opportunities for our people — opportunities that would lead to more growth and more jobs, even as we continue to invest heavily in social services and physical infrastructure development aimed at improving the lives of our people and opening up opportunities for a better future for us and our children; and even as we strive to rise above the challenges, both internal and extraneous, that surface along the road.
Undoubtedly, the PPP/C’s development plan for our country is guided by the national interest and a commitment to the wellbeing of the Guyanese people. Our Government has been working assiduously to create an economic environment that is not only inviting to investors, both local and overseas, but also encourages the active participation of communities in which the investments are made, and to create opportunities for the advancement of those communities.
We have undoubtedly begun to see the benefit and to appreciate the positive changes in our country. Indeed, the changes and resultant improvements in the quality of lives of our people are obvious for all who have eyes to see.
PPP/C national budgets have continually been used, inter alia, to enhance the welfare of our citizens by creating and expanding opportunities for the creation of wealth, and then distributing this wealth among the Guyanese people. The PPP/C has obviously been working to take our country in this direction. It’s all about inclusive governance…no one left behind, unless of his/her own desire. What the PPP/C does as a Government is certainly guided by the national interest and a commitment to the wellbeing of the Guyanese people. PPP/C governance is certainly driven by its public responsibilities, and not by self-interest. It’s driven by a commitment to the wellbeing of the Guyanese people to utilise, inter alia, our oil resources for even greater improvements in the living standard of our people.
Budget 2023 does undoubtedly reflect these improvements to which I refer above.

Respectfully,
Norman Whittaker
Fmr Local
Government and
Regional Development
Minister