Signalling a further closing of ranks, APNU and the AFC today said that they will resist the passage of the 2012 budget unless significant changes are made and they called for the lowering of VAT, the Berbice bridge toll, a hike in salaries for public servants and the revamping of government’s holding company, NICIL, among a range of other demands.
In a joint statement today titled APNU/AFC on Common Ground, APNU recalled that soon after the 28th November 2011 General and Regional Elections, it called for the establishment of a Tripartite Budget Committee to work on designing a national budget that would be acceptable to all sides. The statement charged that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Administration “adopted the call as its own but never convened that Committee.” The AFC and APNU argued that in spite of talks aimed at making changes to the Estimates, the National Assembly is now preparing to conclude its examination of the unvaried Estimates of Expenditure.
“APNU and AFC have made it clear that the Budget, in its present form, does not meet their demands for changes to stimulate growth, lower the cost-of-living and improve the quality of life for ordinary people”, the statement said.
It further charged that as the National Assembly moves to conclude the examination of the estimates, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Administration has stiffened its resistance to introducing changes forwarded by the Opposition.
The statement said that the main demands of the Opposition are:
- Reduction in the Value-Added Tax rate.
- Reduction in the Berbice River Bridge toll rate.
- Increase in the salaries of public servants.
- Effectively re-establishing the functioning of Public Service Collective Bargaining.
- Cease the blatant abuse of the mechanism of Contract Employees in the Public Service.
- Increase in the subvention to the University of Guyana.
- Increase in the retirement age of public servants.
- Guarantee the independence of the constitutional offices – Parliament Office; GECOM and the Service Commissions – by their removal as Budget Agencies under the Office of the President and ensure that they receive their subventions directly from the Consolidated Fund.
- Restructure GUYSUCO and GPL to make them into viable corporations.
- Restructure NICIL to bring its financial assets into the Consolidated Fund.
- Restructure GINA and NCN to make them into responsible national institutions.
- Establish the long delayed Constitutionally mandated Public Procurement Commission as a matter of urgency.
- Establish appropriate arrangements for the governance of key projects and entities, ranging from NICIL, the Amaila Falls Hydro power project and the NIS, with a view to greater transparency in decision-making, eliminating corruption and making them more responsive to public wishes.
- Devote more urgent attention and resources to the plight of the unemployed, the youth of Guyana and the depressed communities and areas.
The two parties added that they are determined to combine their strengths to ensure that changes are made to the 2012 National Budget in order to secure their legitimate demands.
The common position comes after concerns had been raised about APNU’s negotiations last week with the government without the AFC. It appears that APNU and the AFC have settled their differences and will now present a united front at today’s sitting which will likely spell and end to one-on-one talks between the government and APNU.