There was an unusual quiet in the National Assembly on Tuesday evening as embattled Member of Parliament, Dr. Jennifer Westford offered her budget presentation with little interruption and heckling.
The Opposition Member of Parliament, who has been embroiled in mounting allegations and charges of fraud since she left office in May 2015 and is currently on $4.8 million bail, did not appear bothered by the scandal and rose to make her presentation all while urging the government to do right by the people of Guyana.
With little hype, the former PPP Minister offered congratulations to the Minister of Finance and his team at the Ministry for the early completion and presentation of the budget. She offered harsh criticism for the government treatment of public servants.
“Public servants are suffering from anxiety syndrome. They are suffering because they don’t know if they will join their colleagues who were dismissed unceremoniously from their jobs,” she said.
Westford slammed the government for its firing of scores of public servants following its election to office and reasoned that the replacements were persons who are unqualified and/or inexperienced.
She said it was more than disappointing that no salary increases were offered to public servants in the budget.
The Finance Minister in his budget speech said such increases will come following the completion of discussions with the unions. To this end, Westford said she is happy that the collective bargaining agreement is being given the option to work, but questioned why these discussions couldn’t be completed before the budget was presented. She said “A dangling good life carrot is being removed.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login