The Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Ten says that Budget 2023, as it relates to the Council, is inaccurate and does nothing to improve the lives of the people of the Region.
In a release yesterday, the Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice RDC “categorically” refuted the government’s claim that the 2023 Budget intends to help the Region. The Council is therefore calling on the government to reinstate and approve those projects which were requested by the people of the Region through their elected representatives on the Regional Democratic Council.
According to the release, the Minister of Finance’s 2023 budget presentation contained “serious inaccuracies and omissions that will present severe hardship to the people of Region Ten even after extensive consultation with our residents and proactive submissions of developmental projects by the RDC were done to prevent this.”
To support this viewpoint, it referred to Item 4.162 in the budget presentation which stated that the government has “completed the synthetic tracks in regions Six and Ten.” This, the RDC insisted, “could not be further from the truth, since our constituents have clamoured for the continuation of the project to complete our synthetic track for the past three years, to no avail.” It noted that as it stands, the synthetic track at Linden remains “incomplete and unavailable” to the athletes of Linden and Region Ten.
The RDC also considered it a travesty that the athletes of District 10, who have won the National School’s Athletics championships more times than any other Region, and for the past six years in succession, are now without even the use of the Mackenzie Sports Club, their traditional preparation arena. It argued that it would have made sense to complete the track before embarking on improvements to the Mackenzie Sports Club so that an alternate venue would be available. It surmised that perhaps “this type of reasoned thinking either escapes this government, or this situation is deliberately engineered to derail the fortunes of sports in Region Ten in 2023. It added, “Fortunately however, our people are accustomed to battling against these imposed hardships and will continue to rise to and surmount these challenges until we are positioned to ensure they are no longer imposed.”
The release also pointed out that the2023 Budget also represents another year of imposition of projects that have not been proposed by the RDC. This, it stated, was done at the expense of the removal and non-approval of projects requested by the Council on behalf of the residents. It explained that the Council’s budgetary process allows for the inclusion of projects that the government wishes to undertake under various Ministries and agencies, without having to remove projects from the RDC’s budget. The charge was made that government continues to pursue a policy of not only refusing to fund projects proposed by the Council, but to remove projects proposed by the RDC Region Ten Council on behalf of residents from its proposals, effectively ensuring that they are not even considered for funding.
It was noted that the RDC’s approach to secure funding under the agriculture programme towards resources for farmers in several areas in sub-Region One, and the Kwakwani and Berbice River areas, was not even considered and so has not been approved, even as the Council continues to “grapple” with means of improving agricultural production in Region Ten.
The RDC’s list of woes continued with the issue of the non-approval of funding to complete the Regional Democratic Council’s new headquarters. The release expressed puzzlement with this approach and the fact that the welfare of the very people who are expected to execute the various programmes and projects of the RDC to bring development to the communities and people was “completely disregarded” in this 2023 Budget. According to Council, it is well known that the building it occupies is structurally unsafe and has several identifiable electrical and fire safety hazards. The ground floor floods every day as a result of plumbing deficiencies and on several occasions the operations here have been brought to a halt and staff sent home as a result of sewage backing up and overflowing into office spaces.
As far as the RDC is concerned, the refusal of the government to pursue the completion of new accommodations for the staff of the RDC speaks volumes about the Administration’s disregard and lack of care for the region’s residents. Further, it begs the question, “why would any administration that cares for the persons in its direct employ, refuse to allocate resources to make their work environment safe and comfortable?” However, in the face of this challenge, the Council stated that it is determined to step up its efforts to ensure that its staff is treated “more humanely” and has called for a revision of this particular omission of funding in the 2023 budget currently before the Parliament.
The release went on to take to task, the government’s assertion that it has significantly increased the Region’s budget and posited that it does not represent reality. The RDC’s take is that instead, the government has masked the increased cost of living by claiming that it has provided increased funding. And this, the Council explained, has a net effect of ensuring that the Council is forced to do less, even as the claim is made that more has been given in allocations this year.
“An example of this would be the budget for the office of the Regional Chairman, where in 2022, this sum was approved at $40.5 million, and in 2023, is proposed to be capped at $47 million. A cursory glance at these figures would seem to indicate that the budget has increased. However, when statutory payments made under this budget head, such as payments of stipends to Amerindian Toshaos and Councillors, are taken out, the realisation sets in that the government has actually reduced the budget for the Office of the Regional Chairman by nearly $1 million for 2023,” the release asserted.
