APNU+AFC Member of Parliament (MP) Coretta McDonald on Wednesday labelled the proposed $552.9 billion national budget anti-working class and “disrespectful” to Guyanese.
McDonald, a labour union leader, made these remarks during day three of the budget debate, where she noted that the opposition and others had expected the budget to announce game-changing programmes. These programmes that were expected, she said, included free electricity for poor families, subsidizing of mortgages, free housing, earned income tax credits.
She also contended that the budget should have included supplemental security income programmes that would provide cash to low income families, as well as temporary assistance for needy families where non-cash benefits such as child care and job training would be made available.
“Sir, we expected poor women who cannot access free childcare that they would have been given in budget 2022 a special package for free child care by the oil-producing nation of Guyana,” McDonald said.
The MP touched on other programmes she believes could have been added to Budget 2022.
“Sir, unemployment programmes. After being battered by the fallout from COVID, former workers from the public sector and the private sector were hoping that budget 2022 would offer them some assistance for being out of work for months, no fault of theirs.”
Among some additions that could have been made to the budget, she indicated, were loans and grants to citizens for housing construction and a food stamp program that would allow families to cushion the high food prices in the market.
Additionally, she posited that free education from nursery to university should have been among the measures announced and as these things were not announced, McDonald indicated that she could not support the budget.
“This budget, Mr Speaker, is one of the most anti-poor and anti-working class budgets to have been tabled in this honourable house over the last five years. Mr Speaker, a cursory glance at this hastily scrambled document would reveal undeniable intent to reward the haves and to punish the have nots,” she argued.
The opposition MP also opined that the only way to transform the lives of citizens is to increase wages and salaries and not offer one-off handouts.
