The past week was consumed with Budget 2020 and with the ensuing debate. The comments ranged from a plagiarised effort to something that is designed to improve the welfare of the people.
I did notice some effort to provide information designed to cloud the budget in a humanitarian cloak. As I noted last week, there were supposed giveaways although no date has been fixed. And if the $25,000 giveaway does come true then I suppose the claimants would have to provide proof of address.
Immediately squatters would be ruled out. They may provide the address of some relative with a home but the government would be shrewd enough not to pay money twice to the same household. If the home is an apartment building that is going to be interesting.
Some people have divided their houses into rooms. Every family renting a room would be considered a household. It would be interesting to see how the government addresses this situation. What is there to stop me from placing my daughter and her child in one room, my son and his children in another and have them collect the money?
That apart, I listened to Bharrat Jagdeo and his contention that the Opposition benches have people who have been sanctioned by the United States. If that was intended to be news then it failed. I remember the PPP government benches having people who were sanctioned by the United States.
I remember Home Affairs Minister, the late Ronald Gajraj, having his visa revoked. He was sitting in Parliament when this happened. As fate would have it, another Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, had his visa revoked even as he was serving as a Parliamentarian.
Another parliamentarian who sat in the National Assembly even though he was sanctioned was Dharamkumar Seeraj. There may be others but I simply point out these facts.
Parliament was already dissolved when the now President Irfaan Ali was denied a visa to Canada. Jagdeo did not take these things into consideration.
Of course, he was clever to note that for the first time there were people who were sanctioned over the elections. The United States embassy has not released the names of anyone so unless the affected person makes an announcement only the people selling airline tickets would be aware.
There was another bit of interesting news. During the consideration of the estimates, the government members began asking questions of their colleagues.
I remember being in the briefing room of the US State Department. That is the place where the government spokesperson would face the press and answer any question on matters that made the headlines that day. There was always a reporter from the Voice of America.
However, the reporter from Voice of America could not dare ask a question at that forum or at any press conference featuring a United States government official. One reporter did and was banned. As a reporter from a Third World country I simply could not understand the muzzling of one’s own reporters. It makes sense today. One cannot appear to serve lollipops to one’s leaders.
So there were government members questioning themselves about the budget. What questions would you expect them to ask?
There was Kapil Mohabir whom the PPP appointed a consultant at the Climate Change Project Unit at a salary of $3 million per month. He was replaced by Dr Marlon Bristol who was paid $1.2 million per month.
Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon said that Minister Gail Teixeira started out to show that Dr Bristol was being paid a lot. The information on Mohabir stopper her in her tracks. She then said that she did not name anyone and that Harmon did not have the right to name anyone.
Things become even more bizarre. Robeson Benn gets up and questions whether the Coalition administration even added any megawatts to the national power system. Of course, he was challenged but then something strange happened.
For all the years I have been covering the National Assembly, when a member seeks to rise on a point of order, the speaker would take his seat. Under this new Speaker of the National Assembly, this would no longer be the case if you are sitting on the Opposition benches.
He ruled that the person on the floor must yield if the person raising the point of order is to make his point. David Patterson, the Minister whom Robeson Benn declared was the Minister responsible for electricity at the time of the Coalition administration, never got the chance to answer Robeson Benn in the House.
For the records the answer to Benn’s query is easily available. There were new power plants at Bartica, Canefield and Anna Regina.
Canefield got a 5.5 megawatt power plant; Anna Regina got a 5.4 megawatt station and Bartica –a 3.3 megawatt station.
