Opposition disruption of National Assembly meant to obstruct passage of Budget – Min. Singh

Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh says any delay in the enactment of the National Budget, is a delay in the delivery of services to the people of Guyana.

Minister Singh made this disclosure following the suspension of the sitting of the National Assembly Thursday morning after there was a disruption by the Opposition Members of Parliament.

He said that the Government is concerned by the actions of the Opposition to frustrate and obstruct the passage of the $383.1 billion Appropriation Bill which will affect the rollout of transformative projects that directly impact the citizens of Guyana.

“I am extremely disappointed in this and I condemn it… because every action that is taken and every delay in the passage of the budget result in the people being denied the benefit from the policies, programmes and initiatives that were included in the Budget,” he told the Department of Public Information.

The Finance Minister said a lot of work was put into crafting the Budget, which is reflective of the input of a wide cross-section of society. These include non-governmental stakeholders and more importantly, thousands of civil servants who devoted their time to identifying projects and initiatives to be included in the Budget.

“We need to get the Appropriation Bill passed so that we can initiate that work, whether it is construction of schools, construction of medical or health centres, procurement of drugs and medical supplies, procurement of essential supplies for other services,” he said.

Dr. Singh point out that during the course of the debate, the Opposition was incapable of offering any arguments of substance, and that every point they made was effectively rebutted and debunked by the Government.

“Every attempt they make to frustrate the passage of this Budget, they will further, unmasked themselves as being an Opposition that is not interested in the development of this country and will unmasked themselves as an Opposition more interested in obstructing development than facilitating development,” he said.

The Minister said he hopes that good sense will prevail and that there will be a timely passage of the 2021 National Budget.