Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Amanza Walton-Desir on Monday kicked off the Budget Debates for 2022 by calling on the Government to “stop the wastage” and use some $1.3 billion dollars to train sugar workers for a future beyond sugar and not keep sugar workers tied to a “failing” industry.
Walton-Desir posited that $89 billion of a whopping $218 billion which has been allocated in the budget to capital expenditure, is likely to be lost to “corruption” and wasteful spending by the administration. Her conclusion was based on a 41% public programmes inefficiency rate given to Guyana by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“If we can minimize this wastage by just $36 Billion dollars, 50,000 workers in the public service could receive a 10% salary increase right now; health workers could also receive a $250,000 cash grant right now; the income tax threshold could be immediately raised to $100,000; 11,000 UG Students could receive free Education; Old Age Pension could be increase to $35,000; in addition to a host of other measures such as providing a $2 million business grant to qualified small businesses.
