‘You come to the house with tainted glasses’ – Min Teixeira chides Opposition for incompetence during its tenure

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira on Friday, made it clear that, unlike the previous APNU+AFC Government, the PPP/C Administration understands the needs of the people and stands ready to meet those needs.

Speaking during the budget debate in the National Assembly, the minister said the opposition is intellectually bankrupt.

“You come to the house with tainted glasses… because street lights are going up where there weren’t any, roads are going up where there weren’t any, bridges, houses are going up,” the minister pointed out.

Minister Teixeira emphasised, “We have a long way to go, we are a small developing country but we are making progress, and this is under the PPP/C because you took us back in the five years, you took hundreds of thousands from each family with all those taxations you brought to the people.”

The minister highlighted the $13 billion worth of gold reserve that the PPP/C Administration left, and by 2020 the reserve was less than $200 million. Disappointedly too, the gold was sold when the market price was at the lowest, the minister disclosed.

“Mr. Speaker, this is the height of incompetence, the height of irresponsible leadership. You [APNU+AFC] took the two pillars that we have in case of instability… that you can fall back on and they exploited it.”

The audit reports of 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, Minister Teixeira cited, are filled with cases of breaches of the Procurement Act and financial regulations during the APNU+AFC’s tenure.

The Public Procurement Commission’s report on the Demerara Harbour Bridge exposed the collusion of a former minister, who cancelled tenders to over 20 foreign companies and awarded the contracts to persons who did not participate in the bidding process, the minister revealed to the house.

Pointing out more “executive lawlessness,” the minister referenced the special Auditor General’s Report tabled in the house titled COVID-19 Pandemic Assistance Voucher Programme.

She highlighted, among other things, the audit report found that persons who needed assistance were denied. Over 9,000 of the 11,000 qualified applicants never received the vouchers and the programme excluded hinterland residents.

Accordingly, the minister made it clear that despite the APNU+AFC repeatedly claiming it met an empty treasury, after assuming office in 2015, the PPP/C Government left some $780 million of foreign currency reserves and in 2020 August only US $200 million was available.