Min Teixeira reaffirms govt’s commitment to equitable roll out of programmes

The PPP/C Administration is continuing the equitable roll out of programmes geared towards the development of all Guyanese.

This was reaffirmed by Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira during a recent interview on the Global Indian Series podcast.

Since assuming office on August 2, 2o20, the government has been working assiduously to introduce programmes aimed at improving the lives of all Guyanese.

“What are our policies? Are they ethnically biased? Is there a state policy that says Indo-Guyanese first, Afro-Guyanese second? There is no such thing that is happening,“ she said, noting that what is being portrayed by the opposition is false.

Minister Teixeira explained that the COVID-19 relief and the ‘Because We Care’ cash grants were all aimed at reaching every single Guyanese.

“We have the increases in salaries for the Guyana Defence Force and the police, … majority are Afro-Guyanese. The public servants are just getting the eight per cent, another eight per cent increase, again majority are Afro-Guyanese,” the minister noted.

She explained that it was during the APNU+AFC tenure that 30,000 persons were left jobless. Also, hundreds of taxes were implemented making life difficult for poor people.

“We’ve had to try to create and find jobs for people in terms of the number of social and economic programmes,” Minister Teixeira relayed.

In addition, under the previous government, large companies were given government contracts, sidelining small contractors who were also bidding for projects.

“The procurement system was clogged up with the largest companies that supported and financed them,” she revealed.

Now, there are around 1,000 small contractors who have been given the opportunity to earn via contracts for government projects at the community level.