Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 05, 2012 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
I reminded the PPP before the election that it can no longer fool Guyanese. I was right. I said the PPP will get a minority government. It did. The PPP should stop shedding crocodile tears about the budget. It should stop trying to fool its supporters, the public at large and those former PPP supporters it lost to the AFC.
Let’s talk some truth here. The opposition controls Parliament. The PPP knows that. The world knows that. Every child knows that. Every citizen also knows the AFC and APNU asked the PPP nicely to participate in the budget preparation. The PPP said No. The opposition said it would make sense for all parties to get together when the budget was being prepared to prevent exactly what happened; the budget being cut.
The PPP said ‘no way’. It presented its budget and the budget was cut. For President Ramotar to appear on national TV and play circus politics, while weeping and blaming, shows the utterly sickening philosophy of the PPP and the comedy show that controls the party.
Why did the PPP try to cut a secret deal with the PNC/APNU to get its budget passed after the fact when it had months to sit down and talk with the AFC and APNU? The fact that the PPP tried to negotiate with the PNC/APNU to get the budget passed tells anyone with any basic comprehension that the PPP knew the budget it would present would not pass and knew that it had to negotiate for the budget to pass. It should have negotiated long before the 11th hour.
If a government knows it is presenting a budget that could not be passed then that government is not serious about governing. The PPP is an incompetent government. A government that tries to negotiate at the last minute when it has no choice but to table the budget is a foolish government, because it is negotiating from a position of weakness.
The opposition knew the PPP had to table the budget by a certain date. The PPP’s attempt to bypass the AFC to cut a deal with the PNC/APNU shows that the PPP is a downright comical collection of politicians. The PPP needs one vote to pass its budget. It is always better to negotiate with the smaller parties as they will not seek massive concessions like the bigger APNU. Vindictiveness caused the PPP to overlook the AFC for support to pass its budget and it paid a terrible price for its backwardness.
If you look at minority governments in the UK, Canada, Australia and Europe, it is standard practice for the budget to be negotiated beforehand with opposition parties to get enough support to pass it, so as to prevent the embarrassment of an opposition cutting your budget and making you look weak and stupid. Reasonable, rational and right-thinking minority governments acting in the interest of the people do exactly that. They discuss the proposed budget with opposition majorities before going to Parliament. The PPP isn’t reasonable, rational and right-thinking. Which government knowing the opposition is holding the scissors puts in items it cannot even prove will bring in income to cover the proposed spending? Only a truly shallow one.
What did the PPP expect? Did it expect that the opposition in control of Parliament would let it pass spending it cannot even prove it will get funds for (LCDS)?
The PPP is paying the price for its own arrogant ignorance. It is paying the price for plain dumbness and lack of foresight. When it tries to cry crocodile tears to the Guyanese people, they will laugh at them and remind them of just how childishly inept they are. The opposition offered to sit down with the PPP to indicate its input into the budget. The PPP’s refusal is haunting the party now.
The PPP would have gotten its budget passed if it did what the minority governments in developed nations do; negotiate and grant concessions quietly and spin it as evidence of the government’s reasonableness. The PPP’s brash and bullied decision shows it disrespects its own supporters who sent it a message in the last election to change its dirty, power-drunk, corrupt and antagonistic ways.
The PPP hasn’t gotten the message. I wouldn’t put another reckless decision behind the party in it calling a snap election and risking winning the election by an even smaller margin. This party simply cannot think straight, because it is dominated by circus thinkers.
M. Maxwell
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