Dear Editor,
As witnessed over the past five years, the 2026 budget barely brushes the realities of widespread poverty; instead, it targets infrastructure development as the way forward. Inasmuch as building roads, schools, hospitals develop a country, a keener look reveals the ostensible motives in such ventures. In Orwellian newspeak, such contracts for development are euphemism, dressed up as infrastructure progress, and forms a legal method to siphon off from the national coffers. The perpetual kickbacks to the administrators are enormous as evidenced by the massive properties and machinery they now own. Sadly, the vast majority of PPP supporters refuse to acknowledge this phenomenon and the old adage aptly describes such behaviour: The darker the sky the brighter the stars.
The most horrible attribute of the budget stands out as the pumping in of 13.2 billion taxpayers’ money ad nauseum into the sugar industry. There is nothing fastidious in this decision, rather, it is clear admission of failure as this ill-fated venture continues to drain huge resources by constantly giving medicine to the dead. The world market price for sugar stands at 16 cents per pound while Guyana produces this commodity at around 35 cents. The reality is simple: sugar, which has traditionally been a PPP controlled workforce still stands, even though weakened, in unchanged posture therefore the PPP needs this voting bloc in elections – we are talking 7 seats. Who cares if the country suffers from the political manipulation at the hands of the PPP?
The budget fails miserably to address foreign companies that continue to own properties and conduct illegal mining on Amerindian lands. The stock market which can provide start-up capital for new projects and serve as a vessel for smaller investors remains in archaic, Flintstone state. The stock market is the best indicator of economic performance yet the short sightedness of the minister responsible for this budget continue to relegate Guyana into Third World status. Cash grants are not signs of economic growth, it is survival medication, a symptom of economic blundering. The incessant parroting of the slogan ‘cash grants will fuel inflation’ is deceptive to say the least as multi-billion road projects and other similarly priced building construction exerts multifold inflation.
The trivial increase to Old Age Pensioners of $5,000 per month from $41,000 to $46,000 is both demeaning and insulting when over US$2.37b from the Oil Funds is plugged into the budget. In the final analysis, this ‘Putting People First’ budget is a gross misnomer as the people who seem to come first are the friends and family of the former Marxist Party. Today, we witness a family from one sector deciding whether to eat chicken or gilbaka for dinner, while the other end of the social spectrum enquires ‘shall we eat today or tomorrow ‘?