Home Politics Teixeira calls opposition ‘small-minded, anti-national’ as Hughes accuses Gov’t of ‘mendacious propaganda’

Teixeira calls opposition ‘small-minded, anti-national’ as Hughes accuses Gov’t of ‘mendacious propaganda’

0
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira, and Opposition Parliamentarian Cathy Hughes during the debate

The final day of the 2025 National Budget debate quickly descended into a fiery debate as government and opposition parliamentarians clashed on service in government with diverging views for Guyana’s development.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira was the first government speaker. Like her colleagues, she supported the $1.38 trillion budget and the measures it contained but she used much of her presentation to criticise the APNU+ AFC opposition.

Her disappointment was palpable. She lamented the lack of constructive debate over the fiscal plan and said instead that the opposition just seemed focused on axing projects.

“Vindictiveness and small-mindedness does not develop a country

“You in APNU have held back this country, you have taken anti-national positions,” the seasoned politician lamented.

From the new Demerara Harbour Bridge to the Gas-to-Energy project, Teixeira posited that the PPP/C was pursuing key ventures that would help people. The bridge, she reminded the lawmakers, would significantly reduce travel time and improve people’s quality of living; the gas project, cut energy costs in half.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall during the 2025 National Budget Debate

So it seemingly befuddled the minister as to why these projects, and their allocations in budget 2025, would not garner a modicum of support. And she reasoned that it may be because they do not have projects of their own to suggest.

“The last time you were in government, the formula for development was tax tax and more tax. Again, I ask, where did it go? It cannot be explained, there was not one legacy project (that you did,” she said.

Later, she added, “Our friends really need to go in a room somewhere and figure out what they stand for. Are they for the development of Guyana?”

Opposition Parliamentarian Cathy Hughes took umbrage to much of what Minister Teixeira said.

According to her, the government of the day must always try to “do better.” And for her, the government was engaging in “mendacious propaganda” by accusing the opposition of withholding support from crucial projects.

The Amaila Falls project was an example Hughes used to make her point. She said it wasn’t that the APNU+AFC didn’t support the project, it was that the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB) didn’t think the project was feasible and as such, the project could not be supported.

She also said it was the APNU+AFC government, in office from 2015 to 2020, that really advanced the development of the telecommunications sector in Guyana. She added that incumbent Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips was continuing the good work started by her ministry, the Ministry of Telecommunications.

This was a statement that caused the house to erupt, as heckles drowned out Hughes’ remarks after that.

Soon after she finished speaking, Attorney General Anil Nandlall began his presentation by first responding to those exact statements.

Armed with a flyer of the APNU+AFC’s promises for its first 100 days in office in 2015, Nandlall reminded the House that the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector should have happened in 2015.

That did not happen. It wasn’t until 2021, after the PPP/C was again voted into office that the sector was liberalised, Nandlall reminded the House.

Advertisement
_____

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here