President Dr. Irfaan Ali, in a Sunday night address, blasted the policies of the former APNU+AFC government which was in office from 2015 to 2020.
In his emphatic address, the President outlined several instances where the former coalition government engaged in wasteful spending all while failing to deliver on key promises to citizens.
For one, the President pointed out that more money was spent on local travel and dietary needs in 2019 than on key capital spending in the education, health, agriculture, and public transport systems.
The President also flagged the former administration’s move to greenlight a 50 per cent salary increase for government officials soon after assuming office.
Such moves, he explained, inflate the government’s current spending and thereby meant less was spent on capital projects needed to expand productive sectors and improve social services.
And the Guyanese Head of State contended, “The nature of spending by the APNU+AFC government was what we termed non-productive expenditure.”
But People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), he noted, has a contrasting approach to spending state funds. More money is being spent on capital projects; those include expanding social services including through the construction of new schools and hospitals, building necessary infrastructure, and empowering and upskilling people.
“And capital expenditure catalyses economic growth… it has a multiplier effect,” President Ali said.
CALLOUS & UNCARING
The President also said other policies implemented by the APNU+AFC government were “callous and uncaring.”
Some of the egregious policies implemented, the President highlighted, were those that saw the one-month, tax-free bonus for members of the disciplined services revoked, thousands of sugar workers fired, and the loss of jobs for Community Service Officers (CSOs).
And even when an increase was finally given to teachers, Dr. Ali posited that teachers were “shortchanged.” Many of them were reportedly placed at the bottom of the pay scale and as such, were leaving less money.
The President’s comments were made after criticisms came from former APNU+AFC Finance Minister Winston Jordan on teacher salary increases.
Already, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh underscored what he believes is a troubling continuity in the callous and uncaring economic policies that he claims still dominate Congress Place – the headquarters of the main opposition – People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R).
Dr. Singh argued that Jordan’s criticism of the PPP/C government’s tax breaks and support for the agriculture sector reflects a persistent hostility towards rural communities and the productive sector that has been a hallmark of APNU’s economic philosophy.
And he pointed out that Jordan’s tenure was marked by the imposition of over 200 new and increased taxes, fees, and fines. These measures, Singh claimed, included steep hikes in land rent for farmers and taxes on heavy equipment used in mining, which adversely affected key industries.
