Dear Editor,
Please permit me to offer a response to a letter by Tony Vieira in the Stabroek News edition of October 22, 2023, with the caption, “Opposition needs far bigger subvention from budget to effectively do its job”. The author made reference to the subvention to the Office of the Leader of the Opposition in 2006–2010 of some $4 million annually. Assuming that he is correct, an Opposition member recently confirmed that they received far more than this sum annually, which is about $30-$50 million annually. It is unclear by what he means that the opposition needs a “far bigger” budget to be effective.
The question is “how big”, that is, how much more, and why and to do what? The fact of the matter is that it is not the size of the budget allocation that makes an effective opposition. Editor, the current opposition is currently receiving a larger budget than the previous opposition, therefore, there is no need for a larger budget. Bearing in mind as well, that with a smaller budget, the previous opposition was extremely effective to the extent where they successfully moved a no-confidence motion and won the elections in 2020.
Sincerely,
Joel Bhagwandin
