Latest update April 23rd, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 06, 2022 News
…as Dr. Ashni Singh slays opposition in epic verbal slugfest
By Gary Eleazar
Kaieteur News – Debates are oftentimes practiced in schools. They consist of some key elements—a Moot; a proposing and opposing sides, and in the case of schools and other similar forums, judges to adjudge a winner.The Budget debates on the nation’s finances for the year, however, take on a different element.
The winners of this debate are adjudged by the contesting teams, in this case the 65 government and opposition Members of Parliament (MP). With this in mind, the outcome or winner of this year’s Budget debates regarding the proposed, whopping $552.9B spending is a foregone conclusion.
Since government holds a majority – 33 – of the seats in the House and has already seen support coming from at least one-seat in the opposition benches – that of the Leader of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Deputy Speaker, Lennox Shuman.
The Budget 2022 debate aspect was long on rhetoric, personal attacks, insinuations and saw members engaging in a week-long slugfest of verbal jousting that was glaringly short on substance.
MUDWATA
Instead, the House was treated to a litany of tirades and sometimes unparliamentary adjectives and even the defence of an animated social media personality ‘Mudwata’. Members were treated to privileged information such as who did or did not copy notes while in school and who ran out of toilet paper while in law school.
Coalition Member of Parliament, Amanza Walton-Desir set the tone for this past week’s debate when she, in a passionate presentation, described Budget 2022 as “the most disrespectful, discriminatory and deceitful Budget to ever grace this House.”
She in fact, described the administration as a “mafia masquerading as a government” and this did not subside as the week progressed.
Often presentations by some had absolutely nothing to do with their portfolio but the MPs pressed ahead nonetheless.
One such glaring example could be seen in the presentation of Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat.
With front bench speakers such as Ministers allotted 30 minutes for their presentation with an extension of five minutes, Bharrat spoke to just about everything else outside of his portfolio, mentioning only in passing, the oil and gas sector.
There had been significant expectation for the Minister’s presentation since this is the first Budget to be presented utilising monies from the Natural Resources Fund (NRF)—some $126B.
He opted instead to launch an attack on the opposition and even transgressed to speaking on government’s Housing programme and house lots given and to be given out. This, despite the fact that the Substantive Minister for Housing and Water, Collin Croal, was scheduled to deliver his presentation minutes later.
JAGDEO OPTS OUT
During the course of the debates, back benchers were allotted 15 minutes for their presentations with a five minute extension. The final day of debates however, saw the final four presenters being allocated an hour each.
These speakers included Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, Joseph Harmon—who wrapped up for the opposition—Prime Minister, Mark Phillips and Dr. Ashni Singh.
Vice President Jagdeo opted not to speak during the debates this year—presumably not wanting to be limited by the time constraints— and instead hosted a more than two-hour long press engagement the previous day.
With the outcome of the Budget process for 2022 being a foregone conclusion, if a best speaker was to be adjudged, it would certainly have to be Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Singh who closed off the debate on Friday evening with a blistering verbal evisceration of the political opposition with ‘sound-bite’ after ‘sound bite’ taking aim at all and sundry in the opposition benches.
He had not been spared by the opposition in the preceding days. Apart from the condemnations of some of the actual figures in the Budget Estimates he was roundly taunted over his overtly long title with numerous opposition MPs quipping “I don’t know why they don’t just make him Finance Minister and done.”
He opened the presentation with a sober more than five hours long presentation but on Friday evening, Dr. Singh fired back with verbal cannon balls.
Dr. Singh in his opening shots first reminded that it only took the Guyanese people a little over three years to decide “out you go, give me back the PPP” referencing the passage of the No Confidence Motion in the House in December 2018.
CROCODILE TEARS
According to Dr. Singh, in this modern age of information, in this era when Guyana is going through such a rapid and dramatic transformation “what we need more than ever before is serious, credible, capable and competent government and no amount of gymnastics and theatrics from the other side of the House will change that.”
He even took a jab at opposition members, some of whom struggled to read what is perceived as their prepared scripts—with the exception of Annette Ferguson. After these presentations, he noted that the people of Guyana were reminded of why their judgment in 2020 was as appropriate as it was,” referencing the ousting of the coalition administration in that year’s General and Regional Elections.
Eviscerating the political opposition, he noted that not only had the coalition not want to issue a manifesto in the first place and added that “when they were cornered by the people of Guyana” they produced not one but two.
According to Dr. Singh, none of the lofty promises in the manifestos have been met, except for providing a good life for a few.
“For five years they impoverished public servants,” he said, and called the increase that had been given by the coalition, “a three card trick,” since it was presented on a sliding scale basis which meant, some public servants’ increase was just one percent and a 22 percent cut in pay for some.
To this end, he told the opposition MPs the public servants have been looking on, “and (now) you come here and crying crocodile tears.”
PIPE DREAMS
He reminded of the failed promises by the coalition and said “they believe that the people of Guyana are not watching them; just like how they tell the people 33 is not bigger than 32; they believe they can tell the people all of this nonsense and the people are not watching them.”
Taking aim at former Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, he drew referenced to the failed promises made to rice and sugar producers such as the national conferences that never came to being.
With regard the hinterland and depressed areas fund promised, Dr. Singh questioned rhetorically, “where the fund deh?”
According to Dr. Singh “the APNU+AFC has a long history of selling pipe dreams, nothing that they intend to deliver.”
To this end, he pointed out that “they are jumping up and saying they didn’t have oil money” and pointed to their economic Tsars writing a section on how they will finance these plans, cutting VAT, removing subsidies, titled “reaping the democratic dividends” and laughed off the measures that had been outlined as ridiculous.
“The APNU+AFC track record when it comes to selling pipe dreams is a long and well established track record,” he said, adding that the people of Guyana know better now, “they are wiser now.”
MUMBO JUMBO
According to Dr. Singh, “…all this mumbo jumbo that you heard over the last week from them, it’s just that; they take their eyes pass the Guyanese people, just like how they take their eyes pass you when they say 33 not bigger than 32.”
Having congratulated all of the newly appointed or reassigned shadow ministers, Dr. Singh took aim at his counterpart, Juretha Fernandes, “saying we do serious business in this House, this is not a skit being performed for school; this is the people’s work that we are doing.”
Dismissing her presentation as a school skit, with her ‘F’ grades, Dr. Singh quipped “nothing is more important than your credibility.”
To this end, he sought to rebut her arguments with regard the missed targets of the PPP/C administration and accused her of participating in a ploy to keep APNU+AFC in office despite being voted out of office at the elections.
Dr. Singh said, “In this business you can’t play fast and loose with numbers, not if you want to be taken seriously,” as he dismissed her growth rate calculations as inaccurate.
To this end, he reminded that any missed targets were as a result of COVID-19 and the floods last year and further the PPP/C could not be blamed for the financial performance of 2020.
LISTEN HOW JAGDEO WILL MAKE ALL GUYANESE RICH!!!
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