PNCR-1G Member of Parliament Volda Lawrence said that with government’s penchant for bringing supplementary requests for additional expenditure, she hoped the figures in this year’s $119.3 billion National Budget were a true representation of the estimates made for this financial year.
Speaking during the second day of the budget debates on Friday, Lawrence made the point that between the years 2003 and 2007 there were 27 Financial Papers with supplementary provisions taken to the National Assembly totalling $60.125 billion.
She said that for 2003, there were seven Financial Papers totalling $13.012 billion; for 2004, there were two, $2.025 billion; in 2005, nine, $23.228 billion; in 2006, five for $10.356 billion and in 2007, four for $11.504 billion.
“One cannot but think that the figures presented [in the National Budget] are not a true representation or that the Budget Department did not get the totals right,” she said. “I hope 2008 is not a repetition of the previous years. I hope that the minister [of finance] has made sufficient allocations in this budget,” she said, challenging the minister.
The parliamentarian ex-pressed the hope that the government ensures that the farmers of Buxton are given a fair price for their produce. She also asked that the government return to the Guyanese people the $12 billion extra it made from the Value-Added Tax and Excise Tax during 2007 and pay the scrutineers of the political parties.
She is asking that the government organise a public consultation on food prices, establish a price advisory council, and apply stronger mechanisms for control of liquidity and monitoring of food supplies. “Today we continue to witness the economic suffering of the poor and working class. People are calling for the lowering of the VAT,” she said. PNCR 1G member Winston Murray had on Thursday called on the Government to bring the VAT rate down to not more than 10 per cent.
Lawrence said that only three items of the new list of VAT zero-rated items were applicable to the poor and working class and that these were not enough. She asked the government why it was that the 5.4 per cent growth recorded for last year didn’t translate into direct benefits to the people who need it most.
She said too that the growth of last year has been aided by the inflow of US$286 million in remittances to the country.
Lawrence said too that many of the social ills that plague society could be traced back to the disintegration of the family unit and called for Minister of Human Services Priya Manickchand to bring a National Family Policy to the National Assembly.
She called too for the government to support in a more meaningful way HIV-infected children, saying that although beautifully produced television programmes were good, these were not enough.
In response to Lawrence, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony said government was making sufficient efforts to care for children living with HIV.
He said vouchers were being provided for children and a number of orphanages have been receiving money to take care of their HIV-infected children. He said government was also working with, and providing money to a number of NGOs.
Lawrence called for the government to increase assistance to senior citizens “beyond that of increasing old age pensions
