FACING THE REALITIES
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
April 4, 2004
IT IS of significance that one day after Finance Minister Sasenarine Kowlessar presented Guyana's record $75.6 billion no new-tax budget, the leader of the Peoples’ National Congress/Reform, Robert Corbin, chose to announce his disengagement from the high-level dialogue with President Bharrat Jagdeo.
The PNC/R leader's announcement would have surprised no one familiar with the negative politics he has been pursuing, especially within recent months, of boycotts and threats.
While broadening the dialogue process to encompass other parliamentary parties and representative civil society organisations may be desirable, the truth is that the PNC/R, under Corbin's leadership, seems to be in much more problems in what it is capable of offering Guyana as an alternative government, than it has ever been since the party's loss of power in 1992 after 28 years in office.
This is a cause for deep concern for those who believe in multi-party democracy and good governance in a stable political climate.
As if bereft of creative ideas to help move Guyana forward from the old, sterile politics, the PNC/R's leadership is desperately clinging to its demand for an official inquiry into the allegations of death squad killings and ministerial involvement, with nothing really new to offer.
There is no mistaking the emotional appeal to some sections of the society of this kind of politics, and how it could be exploited to satisfy a narrow, partisan agenda.
Overcoming Debt Burden
Yet, those wedded to due process and the rule of law would also be aware that some basic requirements would have to be met for an independent inquiry of the highest order - among them the availability of signed statements and witnesses in support of the sensational allegations that have been publicised and are often regurgitated in sections of the media.
Let there be no mistaking, however, that with the 2004 Budget, which the government's opponents are doing their best to discredit, including personal insults against the Finance Minister, the PNC/R's timing of its official break from the dialogue process would also be intended to shift public focus from the government's record of achievements.
In one particular area which the PNC/R would prefer no reminders is the government's successes in debt reduction and attracting development finance to pull Guyana out of the economic doldrums and social decay that prevailed before a change in government in 1992.
This is not a partisan, vexatious claim. The reality is that compared to 1992 when Guyana, under PNC rule, was suffocating in debt re-payments that took away some 90 per cent of budgetary expenditures, today, under the administration of the People's Progressive Party/Civic, this debt burden has been slashed by almost 75 per cent.
The Minister of Finance, who is gearing to take on challenges at next week's parliamentary debate on his budget, has confirmed that Guyana’s enormous debt burden of approximately US$2.1 billion, inherited with a change in government in 1992, has been reduced by over 50 per cent and soon it would be standing at about 25 per cent.
Inflation remains in single digit and unemployment though undesirable at approximately 12-15 per cent, compares well with what obtains in other Caribbean Community countries, including those that have not had to cope with the negative and destructive politics of the opposition. These are some of the realities.