PPP supports stakeholders’ dialogue before passage

Controversial 2017 Budget

People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Clement Rohee is challenging President David Granger to pay heed to the non-political stakeholders’ request for comprehensive dialogue on the 2017 Budget ahead of its passage in the National Assembly.

He contended that the call by these stakeholders reaffirm the view that the budget measures were not exclusively about politics but about the well-being of the Guyanese people.
In what appears to be a unique move, Government is being pressured to engage with major stakeholders on the national budget before its gets the House’s approval.
The measures and policies included in the National 2017 Budget are evidently upsetting to the general public as chief members of the labour movement and the Private Sector express concerns about the effects the Budget will have on the poor and working class.
Rohee, during his weekly news conference on Tuesday, announced his Party’s support of the call by the various stakeholders for an engagement with the Government before the Budget is passed even though the Head of State recently affirmed that Budget 2017 would not be amended.
“The PPP supports the call by the Private Sector Commission (PSC); Guyana Trade Unions Congress (GTUC) and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) in respect to an urgent dialogue on areas of concern in the proposed 2017 National Budget before its passage in the National Assembly,” he stated.
He reiterated the Party’s demand for a withdrawal of the Budget, and noted that the concerns raised by major stakeholders in society proved that Government’s view that the measures in Budget 2017 would “put more money in the peoples’ pocket” was nothing but a lie.
The President recently justified Budget 2017 and affirmed that it would remain unchanged in response to concerns raised by the Opposition.
But Rohee asserted that the President has to now respond to the concerns raised by non-political stakeholders, whose concerns prove that the Opposition being against the Budget was more than politics.
The PSC, GTUC and FITUG, in a joint letter, wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Barton Scotland expressing their desire to “fine-tune” the Budget.
One of the major concerns regarding Budget 2017 is the addition of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on water and electricity consumption exceeding $1500 and $10,000 respectively.
But President Granger defended this burdensome tax, noting that it would encourage taxpayers to conserve.