Trotman defends Budget 2017 measures as ‘bitter medicine’

“A Government’s five-year term is expected to have a corresponding number of budgets. We cannot look at one budget, which is really a snapshot of a period in time, and expect to be fair in its assessment without juxtaposing the budgets that passed before.”
The Natural Resources and Environment Minister offered this theory for consideration when he rose this past week to give his contribution to the debates on the 2017 National Estimates.

According to Minister Trotman, “The budget therefore must be read in conjunction with those from before – all programmes, policies and resources in these three must be woven together that are taking the country further on a path of realising a green economy.”
It was at this stage Minster Trotman drew the House’s attention to the Chinese proverb, which he said simply states the truism that “good medicine tastes bitter”.
Trotman was adamant the Minister of Finance and his staff didn’t conjure up a budget to harm the country, but to heal it: “We all remember that vaccination we get at an early age of infancy – the closer to birth the better. I refer to the one that made us scream in pain and anger…We all bear the mark on our arms and today thank our parents and healthcare workers who administered it.”
The minister in expanding on his analogy said the vaccination at that time was painful and made little sense then but now, “We realise that it has protected us for the duration of our long lives.”
Drawing reference to the imminent revenue boost to be had from the emerging oil and gas sectors, Minister Trotman told the House: “As we prepare to enter into a new era of plenty we have to bring some discipline to our fiscal arrangements and the best time to do so is now.”
He pointed to neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago as a case in point where some very tough measures had to be adopted not only to ensure survival for now but viability for tomorrow.
In short, according to Trotman, “we can’t put new wine into old wineskins.”
The minister was adamant in his presentation that taking responsibility is not about whimpering in times of transition and uncertainty; it is about taking action and staying in motion.
“I repeat what I said a few nights ago to the ire of some, I invite you to get busy with the Government…It is an invitation, not a command…It is an entreaty not an instruction and we as Government have a duty to prepare the nation and we will do so to the best of our abilities.”
He told those present in the House that the ministry is in receipt on a daily basis, scores of applications and proposals from abroad for activities in the extractive industries sector, adding that, “we would like to see more Guyanese involved and this, this why we have been hosting and hosting seminars and workshops.”
According to Trotman, “I trust that when we bring the suite of initiatives for support and implementation that it will be forthcoming…Together, we will have to prepare the country for what is to come as these resource are not the preserve of one, but of all.”
Minister Trotman also used the occasion to inform the House that the Natural Resources Ministry has requested the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2017 to revise and update the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Strategic Plan (2013-2018) and Monitoring and Evaluation.
He said since the Government assumed office, the Ministry has undergone significant institutional changes as previously mentioned and as such, “it would be a timely initiative to update the Strategic Plan.”