Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana Riding on the Crest of Truth
Last Updated on Tuesday, 6 December 2016, 14:47 by Denis Chabrol
Opposition parliamentarian Nigel Dharamlall is convinced government parliamentarians are not as honest about their feelings toward budget 2017 as they are letting out. The MP believes a lie-detector test would help to set the record straight.
PPP MP Nigel Dharamlall
Dharamlall proposed lie-detector test for the government parliamentarians were among a list of recommendations he made for correcting the budget he called a “national disaster that the PNC-regime has gifted us for Christmas.”
“From all indications of budget 2017,” Dharamlall told the House during his presentation, “our once prosperous country is now bankrupt [and the] only thing government is doing now is to tax our people.”
The MP believes government has “fattened” its eyes with the monies of private citizens and as such, the administration is now looking to “have almost 200 new taxes in less than 2 years.”
Included in his list of recommendations, Dharamlall called for the Finance Minister to put a hold on the budget and consult with his party, the PPP to remove the burdensome taxes, reallocate resources to enhance jobs and “garnish VAT on electricity and water.”
Dharamlall admitted he might not have used the word “garnish” correctly. He believes monies should be set aside for paying sugar workers as well as stabilising the rice industry.
Further, the MP called for a forensic audit into the D’Urban Park Development Project, which has garnered some amount of controversy due to government’s tight-handedness to release information on the project supposedly valued at $1B, according to the Opposition PPP.
Dharamlall believes there should be an investigation on the billions of dollars spent in 2015 and 2016 for drugs since there is reportedly a shortage and massive unavailability.
Developing and presenting a plan for the mining town of Linden was another recommendation by Dharamlall who complained of the increase of some $300M to the already $1B electricity subsidy for the mining town.
The MP also wants a recall of the contentious proposed Pension Bill for former Prime Minister and Georgetown Mayor, Hamilton Green.
“Stop pardoning criminals who wreak havoc on our daily lives and economy,” Dharamlall said. The MP’s position was similar to his colleague, Indra Chanderpal, who earlier today called for the administration to release the names of inmates pardoned by President David Granger since his coming to office.
Chanderpal believes these pardons are linked to the perception of rising crime rates in and around Georgetown.