Mr. Speaker

I was fortunate to be saved from some three hours or more of the same form the PPP cabal and less for the workers of Guyana. The AFC made the right decision to boycott the fantasy speech from the Minister last Monday.

After studying Budget 2014, there is one theme that is very clear to me; the needs of the majority of Guyanese will again go unmet and the aspiration of our youths will continue to go unrealized.

The Minister’s speech is nothing but an insult to the theme “A Better Guyana for All Guyanese” since the entire 2014 Budget was designed as a pre-electioneering budget to fool rural Guyana.

Mr. Speaker on the cover of the minister’s speech I saw half of a cup which contains bitter coffee with no sugar or milk.

To describe this 220 Billion dollars Budget and the absent of sugar in the coffee, is the decline of GUYSUCO. Bread and butter are being taken away from sugar workers. The leakage of the cup is the decline of Dr. Jagan’s legacy, which resulted into a minority government. Mr. Speaker let me remind this house of Dr. Jagan’s legacy, by quoting the daughter of the late Dr. Jagan less than 2 years ago. Speaking of the betrayal of Jagan’s legacy in fighting for the working people, sugar workers being at the heart of the fight, she made this indictment.

“I think the party has moved away- not the party but certain elements in the party- away from these very, very important values that held the party together: and so, for me when I look at some of the things happening my parents could be turning in their graves if they were buried, but they must be churning up in the waters of the rivers in which their ashes were sprinkled.”

Mr. Speaker let me turn my attention to the 18,000 sugar workers and their families. What does this budget mean to them? Nothing. But to save face, regarding the “Octapus” Skeldon Estate”, no longer called the white elephant. The over 200 million U.S. tax payers money invested, on it could have rehabilitated all the Estates country wide, rather than to keep this transfusion of tax payers’ money to operate a factory below 25% production, and no electricity, as boasted about from the inception.

Mr. Speaker the action plan of the AFC could have brought out a Budget better than this, whereby the sugar workers could have been given a decent increase in their wages so that their coffee would have been floated with enough milk and sugar. Mr. Speaker, the AFC’s action plan, aims to satisfy the needs of the Guyanese people and the aspirations realized, but it is not so under this government.

Mr. Speaker, since 2011, the Minister has advised us that he has injected close to $10 billion into the sugar belt but the industry continues to struggle.

He now has the audacity to come and tell the nation that after spending all this money in the sugar belt, sugar production contracted by some 15% to 186,807 tons, (the lowest production of the PPP Government).

Even after the great floods of 2005 that injured GUYSUCO, the sugar industry produced over 250,000 tons of sugar.

Why Mr. Speaker?

• Poor cane husbandry practices leading to poor cane yields;

• Sloth in the mechanization process leading a loss of control over the cost of production;
• Disincentive for the private cane farmers to get on board which can help to reduce the cost of production.

Sugar is in a coma today because square pegs.

The Skeldon Factory remains the principal reason for the almost 40 cents per lb cost of production and no one was held accountable.

I challenge them to call the Local Government elections so that the people on the sugar belt can speak directly to them and they will not like the message.

Mr. Speaker, I feel for my fellow Berbician. The current Minister of Agriculture Dr. Ramsammy, since he has been given a basket to fetch water by his predecessor.

But he cannot come here and ask for a further $6 billion without a clear and detailed plan on what this money will be used for, when this money is needed and what is the clear justification why we should support this cause.

The AFC in principle stands with the sugar workers and their families and we shall vote for any funds for the sugar belt once there is clear justification for the request.

Mr. Speaker and fellow Guyanese, the AFC will always continue to stand with the sugar belt but we are not “pagalee” to provide billions for the PPP to squander and not service the sugar workers.

Mr. Speaker let me turn my attention briefly to the $625 given to our pensioners as an increase, which is only $21 a day, a 3 years old will refuse to accept that from their parents to go to school. Again Mr. Speaker the AFC’s action plan since 2011 calls for $15000 per month. Today our pensioners could have been receiving $20,000 per month under an AFC government.

Mr. Speaker, the minister of health, continues to boast and brag how well our health system is functioning but yet patients admitted in the hospitals are asked to supply their own bed sheets and pillows at the regional hospitals; New Amsterdam, Port Mourant, Skeldon etc.

This is coupled with shortages of medicine, where patients are given prescriptions’ to buy their own drugs. Where is the money going?

There is no trauma team, ICU team, which is under- equipped, where staffs failed to recognize emergency care- only recently a regional councilor of Region six went to New Amsterdam hospital with severe cardiac condition and was placed in a ward without oxygen, no doctor or nurses to assist him in his lost moment. This is a shame.

Even my bedroom is better equipped. Why Mr. Speaker, instead of building a specialty hospital, costing billions why not upgrade the prevailing health facilities, to ensure better health care for our people.

Crime

Mr. Speaker, the Minister spent $17.3 billion on the security sector but yet the serious crime statistics for 2013 revealed that they were similar to the awful days when the domestic terrorists were running wild all over the country after the camp street jail break and in the Fine man gang days.

In a country of 750,000 persons, some 4,204 serious crimes were reported in 2013, which included some 155 murders.

So what really did the PPP spent this $17.3 billion on?

We have no Police Air Unit, even with a new helicopter, to quickly detect and investigate serious crime?

Only now we have high-powered boats capable of plying the high seas to fight the pirates that continue to terrorize our fishermen.

The majority of Guyanese continue to live in an environment that presents deadly threats to our personal security with no respect.

So what really is the PPP spending all these billions on?

The AFC in its Action Plan has outlined our commitment in details on how we intent to confront crime and improve personal security for all.

If we want to build a viable tourism product, we have to bring down the runaway crime rates and now.  Enough of the talk, time to act.

It was the UNDP that reminded the nation that “a higher crime rate hinders Guyana development”.

But reality continues to evade the Hon. Minister, Mr. Clement Rohee who is now asking for $19.5 billion but continue to be very elusive on the specifics.

The AFC continues to stand by its commitment to increase the salaries of all law enforcement officers by 20 percent across the Board.  We believe if an officer of the law is not so focused on “hustling a dollar” he will have more time to solve crimes and the long-term economic impact will be positive.

The AFC also call for the re-appointment of the Police Service Commission so that all eligible officers can be promoted accordingly.

The AFC in principle support the establishment of the SWAT Team, which we see as good strategic measure to combat the serious criminal with equal capacity but we cannot understand why the PPP was so slothful in its establishment

We also welcome the establishment of the forensic labs at UG since we seriously think that Guyana has too many unsolved crimes.

The AFC believes that the time has arrived for the Police to have their own Air Unit at Ogle Airport and we would commit some $200 million to make this project a reality.  We also believe that the Police Marine Unit urgently needs at least three fast boat especially in the Berbice area and an AFC Government would have released $120 million to start this process.

This is a clear message to the political directorate at the Office of the President that we still have no confidence in Minister Rohee at Home Affairs.

Conclusion

In the Budget speech, the minister reminded the nation of the gap between the rhetoric and the reality on the ground.

As I illustrated in three significant sectors, the lives of the working class has been under a clear and present danger for over a decade under this Jagdeo/ Ramotar government and the 2014 Budget is more of the same and make a marginal difference into the lives of those at the bottom of the economic ladder- the working poor, the unemployed, the single mother, the youths, the elderly, and the disable.

What the Minister forgot to mention was the VAT, which is mainly paid for by the final consumer which is the working class went from $21 billion when it was launched in 2007 to $34 billion in 2013, an unreasonable increase of $13 billion on the back of the poor and the working class.

What they are doing with this extra $13 billion every year?

They did not give any to the workers, by way of a reasonable wages increase in 2013.

They clearly are not offering it to the pensioners since all they offered them in 2014 is an additional $20 a day; it cannot even buy a “butter flap, much less the butter or cheese to put inside and they cannot dream of the milk to put in tea to go with it.

They remain out of touch.

Mr. Speaker, Budget 2014 failed to deliver “A Better Guyana for All Guyanese”.

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