Dear Editor,
The key is to effectively manage the various budgetary allocations.
The national budget is pegged at $383.1 Billion dollars which as an amount is difficult to conceive in real terms. The late President Ronald Reagan, a skillful communicator described one of his budgeted amounts by stating that if you were to stack US$100 together, it would fill the entire Empire State Building. A similar vivid imagery of our $383.1B budget would be if you were to stack $5,000 notes together, it would probably fill our National Stadium at Pro-vidence up to roof level about four times. This is a lot of money, hence we have to ensure that it is effectively managed in a sustainable, transparent and cost effective manner.
We have to ensure among the following:-
1. The preparation and awarding of bids for all central and local government tenders are in accordance with the regulations of the National Procurement and Tender Adminis-tration Act. We should avoid sole sourcing and secret tenders, they raise a lot of unsavory questions.
2. Every drain that is dug, every road that is being built must be done to approved standards. If the depth of the canal is to be dug to twelve feet, that does not translate to 10 or 9 feet.
If the asphaltic layer for the road is specified at six inches then it should be no less. For too long we have been tolerating substandard works that deteriorate quickly and have to be redone at taxpayers’ expense.
3. We have to ensure proper inventory management of medical drugs and fuel procured by the budgetary funds. Year after year we continue to receive audit reports of wasted and expired drugs running into the billions. This is a terrible tragedy given that some of our people die because of a lack of drugs.
With regards to fuel used for the drainage and irrigation projects, it appears the phenomenon of the black hole operates where copious amounts of diesel just disappear without any trace. We have to zealously guard against this extreme wastage.
4. The various revenues and capital works identified for each community must have majority local content. If a drain is to be dug, a school or community centre to be built, roads or streets to be paved it must employ the people from that community. This is what empowers individuals and keeps them in their communities.
5. We have to curb bureaucratic extravagances. It is almost comical to see the length of the security details for our government officials in the absence of any real or perceived threats. For a people with three quarters of a million in population, our security details outclass developed countries with over four hundred million people as well as those Afghan warlords. It is a terrible waste. I have seen vehicles of government officials running for hours while they are in a conference just to keep it cool when they emerge. All the unnecessary lunches, fabricated allowances, irrelevant meetings are milking our resources. The government bureaucracy is bloated and needs to be trimmed of its fat.
The budget is fairly balanced and has something for all the various sections of our society but until and unless we manage our monies effectively, real development will always be elusive and we will continue to have bigger and bigger budgets to no avail.
Yours sincerely,
Reggie Bhagwandin
