Mr. Speaker, I rise to lend my support to the Alliance for Change members who have spoken before me on the 2013 National Budget themed by the government, “Overcoming Challenges Together, Accelerating Gains For Guyana”. I am left to wonder just how serious the government is about its theme. Is there real commitment to a unified approach to the challenges we face?
I have my doubts because, prior to the release of the estimates, the Alliance For Change made repeated calls urging that together, the government and the opposition work to develop a national budget that truly reflects the needs and aspirations of the people of Guyana.
However, these calls mostly fell on deaf ears as there were just some half-hearted attempts to engage the AFC. So the government did its duty and prepared the estimates for 2013.
Now, the AFC must do its duty and that duty is to the people of Guyana, to ensure that their dreams are realized, that the needs of the people are met and that our children’s future is secure.
And as we do our duty as the opposition, I call on my colleagues on the other side of the House, to let good sense prevail and to work with us to deliver to the people of Guyana, all the people not just a select few.
If the government wants to honour its own budget theme, then it must accept that somewhere over the years, it lost focus and started failing to provide for the needs of the people.
This is clear when we take note of the number of protest actions taking place all over the country. Protest at Linden, sugar workers protest, Plaisance residents protest, University of Guyana protest, the media protest, nurses protest,… it is protest and more protest… plenty, plenty protest.
Clearly, if people are satisfied with what the government is doing, there would be no need for them to protest. So somewhere along the line, the government and the people started drifting apart. Such a state of affairs is unhealthy. There is no togetherness.
Mr. Speaker, I will be addressing matters that are specially related to Region Eight, but first allow me to address mining in a more broad manner.
Mr. Speaker, Declared gold production of 438,645 ounces was the highest recorded in the entire history of the gold industry excluding Omai production, and was 20.8 percent higher than 2011.
In the Guyana Chronicle of Monday, December 3, 2012, Chairman of the Guyana Gold Board Dr. Gobind Ganga is reported to have said that earnings from gold were estimated to be in excess of US$600 million.
Mr. Speaker, the Finance Minister himself has lauded the performance of the gold mining industry and I wish to join him by stating that gold continues to be critical to the survival of our country’s economy.
The thing is Mr. Speaker, while gold continues to be a success story for Guyana, we do not see the rewards of the success filtering down to the people in the areas where the gold is coming from.
While gold continues to prop up the national economy, the people living in the gold-rich areas still have to use pit latrines. The people in the gold-rich areas do not have simple, basic services like potable water coming to their bathrooms and in their kitchens. Mr. Speaker, the situation is so bad, so dangerous to health, that in Region One, as a result of an e-coli outbreak, over 500 persons were reportedly infected and three innocent children lost their lives.
The late Dr. Cheddi Jagan often said, “This country is too rich to be so poor”. Mr. Speaker, the hinterland is too rich for its people to be so poor.
Mr. Speaker, while mining continues to be a major economic activity in the hinterland, there are many challenges which are increasing alongside mining; prostitution is on the increase, crime is on the increase, drug abuse is on the increase, school drop-out is on the increase, unemployment is on the increase.
The police, instead of providing security, they are the ones brutalising citizens.
Mr. Speaker, the incident along the Marudi trail where a corporal of police was caught on camera flogging civilians showed the worst in Guyana. The images of the man in police uniform taking a limb from a tree and unleashing brute force on a woman with her child is an image we will never recover from. That officer of the state did more to damage the reputation of Guyana than any media house ever did by posting a negative story on Guyana.
Mr. Speaker, how can this government expect to be taken seriously when they say they are going to implement police reform when the very government refuses to take simple measures to clean up the Police Force? What evidence can the government provide to prove they are serious about reform? I address this matter because it is of critical importance to Amerindian residents.
Mr. Speaker, how can Amerindians trust the police to protect us when they cut branches from trees and flog us like slaves were flogged centuries ago? Who gave the right to that policeman to flog civilians? Mr. Speaker, where are we heading with this type of behaviour from the government-run, state security apparatus? Are we to sit in this honourable House and say it is okay, and to approve increased funding to a police force that treats civilians like cattle?
What exactly is the government’s policy on physical abuse of its citizens?
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