Some also urged a return to the dialogue process President Bharrat Jagdeo started last year with PNC/R leader, Mr. Desmond Hoyte but which the PNC/R executive has put on `pause'.

Among those making presentations in the National Assembly yesterday were Education Minister, Dr. Henry Jeffrey; Public Service Minister, Dr. Jennifer Westford; Foreign Minister, Mr. Rudy Insanally; Amerindian Affairs Minister, Ms. Carolyn Rodrigues; Transport and Hydraulics Minister, Mr. Anthony Xavier; Housing and Water Minister, Mr. Shaik Baksh and Minister of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock, Mr. Satyadeow Sawh.

The main Opposition PNC/R (People's National Congress Reform) stayed away from the debate for the third consecutive day since it started Monday. The PNC/R members were led out of the National Assembly by the party Chairman, Mr. Robert Corbin in the absence of Mr. Hoyte, seconds after the motion was read for the commencement of day three of the debate and as Minister Jeffrey rose to make his presentation.

Corbin told the Chronicle immediately after the walkout that the PNC/R will continue to adopt a method of daily reassessing its position with regards participation in the budget debate. "I think we're here long enough and whether it's continuous only time will tell; but I think we've reached almost the limit of our patience on this matter," he said.

The only two Opposition Members of Parliament who remained for yesterday's sitting, as they did for the preceding two days, were Ms. Shirley Melville of the Guyana Action Party-Working People's Alliance (GAP-WPA) and Mr. Ravi Dev of the ROAR Guyana Movement.

This, however, did not prevent those from the Government benches from standing up and making lengthy presentations as they congratulated Finance Minister, Mr. Saisnarine Kowlessar for a budget which has the "people's interest at heart".

Minister Westford congratulated the Finance Minister for "his eloquent presentation of the 2002 Budget which seeks to ensure that social equity is maintained".

"Increasingly, the global, political, economic and social changes are having a direct negative impact on small economies such as Guyana (and) the continuing globalisation of the market driven world economy has therefore resulted in the way policies are formulated and managed currently," she told the House. Westford said that based on economic analysis, the policies formulated and implemented by the People's Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Government during last year "have borne fruit".

"The last few years have seen rapid changes worldwide, with interest focussed on new management approaches, given added momentum by the growing expectations of the public for more transparency and high standards of services," she asserted.

In this regard, she said societies everywhere have become demanding, notwithstanding the current economic realities. Westford also reminded members of the House that they must bear in mind that "the future of this country would be determined by our actions of the present (so) let us then leave for our future generations a legacy of peace and prosperity, not mayhem and destruction."

She said the time has come, without a doubt, "for us as leaders of this nation to stop concentrating on partisan politics and work together on matters of importance for national development". Noting that like all developing countries, the scourge of poverty continues to be a constant in communities, she said that to this end, the Government has made substantial allocations in this year's budget to continue and sustain the poverty reduction programmes.

"To expedite the process of tangible and sustained progress away from this unacceptable situation, all of us will have to endorse our meaningful contributions," she added.

Minister Rodrigues, in her presentation which touched on several aspects of Amerindian development in Guyana, said that since the PPP/C Government took office in 1992, the population looks forward to what is in the budget for them.

"And this is primarily because the budget always brings something for them," she said.

"This...is a significant achievement of this Government, since the days of being fearful of what the budget may `take away' from you...,"she recalled.

"It is, therefore, not unusual when expectations are raised too high and the budget cannot accommodate all that is expected, that there are utterances of the Government not doing its work" Rodrigues said.

"I am confident...that considering the circumstances locally and internationally, the budget has brought something for everyone," the Amerindian Affairs Minister added.

Jeffrey said development can only be initiated within current conditions regardless of what those conditions are and as such, much more important than education is a committed and visionary leadership capable of focussing the creativity of all the people.

This, he said, is difficult to attain in normal political conditions, and in Guyana's case, it appears impossible.

"This session of Parliament is a fitting example of the difficulty with which I speak," Jeffrey told the House, referring to the walkout by the PNC/R.

"On all sides there is a feeling that the current dialogue between the President and the Opposition Leader has brought discourse, substantial action, peace and a level of development; yet we are at a stage where the PNC/R has suspended the dialogue, absenting itself from Parliament, and generally creating conditions that are likely to affect our country adversely," the Education Minister said.

If the PNC/R's position is that little of the process initiated by the dialogue has been substantially concluded, then it is correct, the minister said.

However, in putting the problem in that fashion, Jeffrey said the party clouds two important issues - "firstly, it makes too little of this substantial work that has gone into the process so far and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it hides its real motive".

According to Jeffrey, although a great deal of work has been done, conclusions on many issues have not been reached largely because of "constitutional requirements and bureaucratic delays".

Minister Insanally said whether the budget presentation by the Finance Minister is described as "political, ministerial or managerial", he would "like to think it is fair to say that it is magisterial".

He also urged a return to the dialogue process, pointing out that no amount of effort would be fruitful without dialogue in the House.

"There has to be dialogue at the highest level between the Opposition and the governing party to work out their differences," he said.

"I rise to join my colleagues on this side of the House to offer and to add my congratulations to the (Finance Minister) and his team at the Ministry of Finance for producing a budget of this quality and excellence," Sawh said.

"It is my opinion that this budget has been well crafted and has been well thought out," he told the House in his lengthy presentation which touched on every aspect of his ministerial portfolio.