“Women are not being left behind in this country!” – Teixeira to APNU/AFC

Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira has positioned that women and young girls are not being left behind in Guyana, as immense emphasis is being placed on policies to see them excel.
It was during her Friday debate in the National Assembly, as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister called out the Opposition for its inability to fairly understand Budget 2023, that she highlighted some of the progress made in ensuring women are provided equal opportunities.

“Women and young women are not being left behind in this country. You haven’t even read the signal right about what women are doing in this country. You’re off course because you’re blinded. You’re looking at the country and people jaundiced because it’s all race-bated.”
She provided statistics which reflected 60 per cent of GOAL Scholarship awardees being women. The World Economic Forum’s global gender gap index 2021 to 2022 shows Guyana ranking 35 out of 146 countries that were studied.
“This is a significant from a ranking of 53 in 2021. Imagine 18 spaces we jumped in one year. How did we do that? We ranked 17th globally for legislative, senior officials and managers. Our literacy rate is at an exceptional level. Guyana is tied for first place for enrolment in both secondary and tertiary education. In health and survival, Guyana is placed first for sex ratio at birth and first on the global scale for life expectancy with other countries.”
In access to finance, Guyana records equal rights for women. In terms of inheritance, women and widows also have equal rights according to the report.
Minister Teixeira noted that in reality, the lives of Guyanese have significantly improved as she addressed the Opposition’s position that the budget is ‘anti-poor’.
“We are making progress. This is under the PPP/C because you took us back in the five years. You took hundreds and thousands of dollars from each family with those taxation that you brought on our people and VAT for essential food items. And yet you come here sanctimoniously and pretend that you did a good job,” she told the other side of the House.
“The APNU/AFC does not comprehend this forward and progressive movement of our people. It’s unfathomable to them while at the same time, each of the MPs benefit from the measures introduced. The people like the budget measures. They understand this will bring benefits to their lives. They only want more and they will get more but they understand that the country is progressing,” she added.
The Minister asserted that the Opposition came to the National Assembly with ‘tainted glasses’ since they are not accepting of the development.

Scholarship programme
Earlier this week, Public Service Minister Sonia Parag shared that through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) Scholarship programme, the PPP/C Government will exceed its target for scholarships to be distributed to Guyanese. An injection of $1.8 billion allocated in this year’s budget will surpass the target of 20,000 scholarships this year itself.
While adding that university education will be free before 2025, the Minister had noted that in the meantime, scholarships will continue to be offered to ordinary Guyanese to go to the University of Guyana so they can enhance their skills. This, she said, is important to fill the gaps in the public sector and continue to build human capacity.
Among the measures in the budget is the increase of the “Because We Care” cash grants, from $25,000 to $35,000 per child.  This will place an additional amount of $2.1 billion in the homes of children attending both public and private schools.
Old age pension was also increased to $33,000. According to the Finance Minister, this will place an additional $4.4 billion of disposable income in the hands of over 73,000 old-age pensioners. In 2021, all old-age pensioners were given $25,000 on a monthly basis, and in 2022 that sum was increased to $28,000. Meanwhile, public assistance has been increased to $16,000.
The personal income tax threshold will also be increased from $75,000 to $85,000. This, according to the Finance Minister, will place an additional $303 billion into the hands of current taxpayers both in the public and private sectors. (G12)