Correction to mischievous report published by News Source Guyana

The Office of the First Lady wishes to correct misinformation in the public domain following consideration of the 2021 budget estimates Monday under the Office of the President.

One media house, Mr Gordon Moseley’s News Source Guyana, has irresponsibly and incorrectly reported that a total of $25 million allocated in this year’s budget reflects a $15 million increase over last year’s allocation, and that the additional allocation was not justified.

The report follows questions regarding the allocation to the First Lady’s office by Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon. The allocation this year, is not a 100% increase, as Mr Moseley reported, and therefore the Office of the First Lady sees the reporting as being mischievous.

It would be prudent to note that from at least the year 2016 onward, the Office of the First Lady has received $15 million in annual funding. In the 2020 Budget, which was presented in September, the first under Mrs. Ali’s tenure, the standard amount of $15 million was budgeted but only $3 million was received and expended due to the shortened budgetary year.

In Budget 2021, an additional $10 million – not $15 million as reported by Mr Moseley – was allocated. A simple comparison of last year’s budget and this year’s would have led to a simple mathematical calculation that would have allowed Mr Moseley to provide an accurate report to the public.

The work of the First Lady is well beyond the budgetary allocation.

The work of the First Lady focuses on the vulnerable, humanitarian causes, support to the national One Guyana Initiative and environmental and beautification projects. Is Mr Harmon against such work? Surely, he cannot feign ignorance of the First Lady’s initiatives. It needs to be noted that this is the first time that an opposition has questioned the allocation to the First Lady’s office in this manner.

Mrs. Ali’s agenda for 2021 includes the Vulnerable Women Scholarship initiative, which has benefitted 15 women this year. This is a project that will not only continue annually but will be expanded upon in the coming years.

The First Lady’s groundbreaking Menstrual Hygiene Initiative, aims to provide sanitary pads to girls from poor families across the country who were previously forced to drop out of school simply because they cannot afford sanitary pads.

Shortly, Mrs Ali will announce another groundbreaking initiative, in partnership with several businesses, which will see the expenses of orphanages across the country being covered. 

Further, Mrs. Ali’s signature initiative, the National Beautification Project, requires a higher capital budget since it involves significant infrastructural expenditure. So far, the private sector has given generous support to the First Lady’s beautification initiatives but the projects for 2021 will require more direct support to complement both private sector assistance and joint projects with other government agencies.

For example, the cost of the beautification project at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport alone is estimated at $20 million, which is two times the value of the increase in the budgetary allocation of the First Lady’s Office this year. 

The First Lady hopes that this release serves to provide greater clarity on the expenditure allocated to her Office in Budget 2021, and the beneficial programmes and projects upon which the monies will be responsibly and accountably spent.