Main opposition APNU frontbencher Basil Williams yesterday called for the “Guyanisation” clauses to guarantee jobs for local workers in large-scale projects, even as he decried the government’s seemingly unconcerned stance on unemployment.
Addressing the National Assembly on the second day of the debate on government’s proposed $208.8B national budget, Williams also scoffed at governments frequent boasts that the budget was the biggest ever, saying that such declarations in the past have not translated into a better life for the masses.
He pointed out that the fact that the unemployment rate of the country is never made public by government lends to the belief that it is not serious about the issue. The government’s stance on the Marriott Hotel construction project, which is being undertaken almost exclusively by Chinese workers, is also demonstrative of this attitude, Williams added.
“The Marriott issue shows that the question of job creation is not taken seriously by the government. The government never publishes the unemployment rate, nor what is its employment policy. Nor does it publish any manpower survey or indeed whether it conducts any,” he said.
“It is conventional wisdom that big construction projects are jobs spinners and ought to employ many Guyanese. The PPP/C does not guarantee employment of Guyanese in big international projects within Guyana. Thus, Chinese workers are preferred over Guyanese. APNU recommends to government that they include Guyanisation clauses in such contracts,” he further said.
Williams also lamented the government’s frequent boasts that this year’s budget was the biggest yet, saying that though that might be the case, only the small, wealthy percentage of the populace will benefit. “The question is: ‘Biggest’ for whom? The masses of the people? Or a cabal of friends? Has the life of the ordinary Guyanese undergone a qualitative change, or is it still attended by shortages?” he questioned.
“The truth is, life is a continuous struggle for a large segment of this population who have been marginalised and discriminated against since 1992. It is an incontrovertible fact that most of the wealth of Guyana is distributed amongst a small 20% cabal, while the other 80% of our people have to scramble for the crumbs,” he said.
He noted that from APNU’s analysis of the proposed budget, government is capable of increasing the wages and salaries of public servants and increasing the minimum wage, but it is instead “fooling around” with the lives of the public servants.
“I respectfully submit that the government can doubly afford to increase wages and salaries and the minimum wage, the reason being that they use only part of the earnings of this country to determine the earnings of public servants. What about NICIL funds? Lotto Funds? And GGMC funds? These are not factored in in the amount available for public servant wages and salaries. The latter amounts are used to benefit PPP/C supporters,” Williams said.
“In this year’s budget, the sum of $661,872,000 is budgeted for revision of wages and salaries, yet employment costs are projected to increase by $4.6B. The APNU calls on the government to stop fooling around with the lives and well-being of the public servants in Guyana,” he added.
Williams serves as APNU’s Shadow Attorney General and his presentation highlighted defects in the legal system, including the antiquated paper system still in use by the courts and the Deeds Registry.
“Billions have been spent on constructing new courts and refurbishing existing ones. Another two billion is allocated to continue the splurge… but what of the quality of the delivery? Why can’t we be impacted on a mere visual apprehension after the spending of all that money? Why not modernised court rooms… The Deeds Registry is still afflicted by lost transports and surely the developing of standard forms would speed up transactions therein?” he said.
He also used his presentation to point out what he called “a frightening arrogance and callous disregard” for best practices by the PPP/C government and he cited the distribution of radio frequencies and the planned installation of a tower on the Plaisance playfield as examples.
“What kind of mind, in the full glare of an ever present call for equity in the broadcast media, would give its family and friends most of the frequencies allotted for radio and television, well knowing that it would be revealed to the world? What kind of mind would seek to covet the Plaisance Community Centre ground to its own purpose without a care for the villagers, especially the youths, who have for generations meaningfully used it?” he asked.
In dramatic form, Williams ended his presentation by reciting a poem he said he had composed to sum up his speech:
Don’t cry for me PPP/C,
The truth is you never really loved me.
All through my hungry days,
My poverty stricken existence,
You kept your silence and distance.
