An election year budget has to be good

Dear Editor,
Leader of the PNCR, Robert Corbin, indeed highlighted the benignity of the Guyana government when he classed the 2011 budget as an election budget. I don’t know all his reasons for calling it such, I will never know, but from his remark, I take it to mean that he agrees that the budget is an exceptional one, of which he approves. By implication of his statement, the 2011 budget must be a good one, as it is deemed as an election year budget.
I have been closely following the budget discussions and from my understanding of it, the 2011 budget reflects massive achievements during the previous years and stringent, carefully calculated strategies that will continue to effectuate economic growth and social security with political stability in this country.
With the $161.4 billion allotted for the 2011 budget, it is not a disgruntled opposition leader worried about securing votes who should judge the nature of the budget or the motive of the government in creating this budget. It is rather, the people of Guyana whose way of life and standard of living will be improved and whose children will benefit from better education standards who should be the judge of this budget.
More importantly, it is those parents who will no longer have to worry about their children focusing in school because of lack of nutrition, or have to worry about finding the money to buy uniforms for their children, since the government has already given $9 million in 2010 for the school feeding and school uniform programme, and who will decide the importance of this year’s “election budget”.
I cannot go on a ramble about the budget, but I will emphasise my point that by implication of his statement, Corbin himself attested to the fact that this year’s budget is indeed a damn good one. Corbin however, is not the judge of the budget, the people are, and I am sure that the people agree that it is a reflection of economic and social progress and development.
Nigel Green