‘Investments where necessary’ – Debates on first trillion-dollar budget open in the National Assembly

Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton on Monday defended the government’s focus on expanding training all across Guyana while Opposition Parliamentarian Roysdale Forde, SC claimed the incumbent People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) has not budgeted enough to target vulnerable groups.

The two Members of Parliament (MPs) opened the 2024 National Budget Debates in the National Assembly, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, for the government and opposition, respectively.

As is usually the case, the PPP/C government and APNU-AFC opposition seemed to have diametrically opposing views on the budget that was presented last week by Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh. The budget totalled $1.14 trillion; it is Guyana’s first trillion-dollar budget.

Forde, who is also the shadow Attorney General, started the debates by describing the budget as “uninspiring” and throughout his presentation, he posited that the trillion-dollar budget failed to address many pressing issues locally.

“Budgetary decisions should be grounded in a nuanced understanding of the social fabric, ensuring that resources are distributed to the most vulnerable,” Forde said.

According to Forde, there should be more targeted measures to address poverty in Guyana. He also called for the minimum wage to be $150,000.

Mr. Hamilton, in turn, contended that the government was making targeted investments where necessary.

He spoke about the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) doing more than was done by the APNU+AFC coalition when in office from 2015 to 2020.

He then spent the rest of his presentation focused on his portfolio.

According to him, the PPP/C government has spent millions more training thousands of Guyanese since it took office in 2020.

From 2020 to 2023, he said, the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) had 11,275 beneficiaries through the implementation of over 500 projects across Guyana.

Those beneficiaries were trained in areas such as welding, machinery and early childhood development. These are all skills, he said, Guyana needs now as its economy expands.

Hamilton also said working conditions in Guyana have improved under this government.

“We have left the lives of countless people better,” Hamilton posited.