Dear Editor,
The annual tradition in Peru of burning effigies of corrupt and hated politicians is quite telling. Several ex-Presidents are behind bars for corruption, and the voters are angry with the politicians over the high level of corruption in the country.
After listening to the 2026 budget debate and the disregard shown for the immense waste of money on display as in the case of the Commissioner of Information’s salary ($33 Million plus), one can only conclude that the national purse is being mismanaged. Years of no measurable results and a lack of reporting is indicative of the high level of fiscal mismanagement occurring in the government. The spendthrift approach to this year’s budget is once again accompanied by a lack of measurable outcomes in numerous areas.
A serious gap that needs to be corrected to ensure responsible spending and prudent fiscal management. At the current rate of wasteful spending the Natural Resource Fund will underperform once again this year, leaving programs geared towards helping alleviate poverty at risk. The nation is struggling and our politicians would rather see the funds from the NRF in the pockets of their cohorts instead of in the national purse.
They have overlooked what could be to their own benefit if doing what is correct was their guide. Financial strength of the fund can support sustainable salary increases across the board, but few have shown an ability to resist instant gains under the guise of transformation. The leader of the opposition continues to show the high level of corruption that is rampant in the country, and with his latest video of a Minister’s home being linked to an exposed corruption network one can only imagine what is behind a salary for a Commissioner that surpasses that of Ministers who produce more results for the nation and more reports in Parliament.
For the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs to defend such waste, shows the public that little will change for the better in the fiscal management of the nation. Guyana may not be burning their effigies today as they do in Peru, but at this rate the country will return to being poor once again and when this happens who will be able to contain the anger of the masses?