Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo began the debate on today’s no confidence motion with loads of bravado.
In the face of sustained heckling from the government benches Jagdeo declared that he will prove that rather than working for the betterment of the people, government ministers were growing fat on the perks of office.
“That’s why they would like this motion to disappear…they are very worried look at their faces,” he told the House as the government MPs chanted “bring it on”.
The leader of the Opposition went on to argue that government has mismanaged the resources of Guyana, has harmed the country’s democracy by engaging in unilateral action and has proved itself untrustworthy by reneging on its manifesto promises.
“All of their promises they have failed to keep,” he stressed noting that after promising the elderly lower prices for state utilities they instead attached Value Added Tax to the service price and removed the subsidies granted pensioners.
In fact according to Jagdeo though government promised to reduce VAT they have instead increased taxation by $88 billion per annum.
“Government has increased extravagance by $31 billion [and] removed 32,000 jobs,” he claimed adding that they have not brought in a single major investment.
Instead they focus on oil and gas when they did not bring ExxonMobil to Guyana, he noted adding that even in dealing with this company they have failed to properly represent Guyana resulting in a skewered agreement.
“They talk about scandals. If I talk about their scandals I will run out of time. (Public Infrastructure Minister David) Patterson is before the Police and (Minister of Public Health) Volda (Lawrence) is constantly before the procurement commission yet they talk about scandal. I can’t even list their scandals,” he declared.
