By Abena Rockcliffe
The late Hugh Desmond Hoyte, Dr. Kenneth King and Winston Murray were remembered today by Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo as he reminisced on the days when debates in the National Assembly were impeccable. At Jagdeo’s weekly press conference hosted at Freedom House, Guyana Standard pointed out that arguably, with the exception of Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, one would be hard pressed to find a Member of Parliament better equipped to defend a budget than Jagdeo. Nevertheless, the Vice President continues to withhold his contributions to the budget debates.
This year’s 2024 budget debate marks the third consecutive time he has abstained.
Of note is the fact that Jagdeo is not only an active chief policymaker, he served Guyana in a technical capacity at the Ministry of Finance then as Finance Minister and a two-term president. He is the single most experienced politician in not only the House, but Guyana.
Yet, he withholds his participation from the debate at a time when politicians speak less about policies and directions and more about personalities and whimsical initiatives.
Jagdeo’s modus operandi is now to make his position known to the media and public via his weekly press conferences. He would delve, in detail, into the policies that inform the core investment direction of the nation and highlight how various initiatives fall into government’s masterplan.
At his press conference earlier today, Jagdeo was asked about his absence from the debate. His simple answer, in not so little words, was that he sees the debate as beneath him.
Jagdeo said that the opposition’s listless approach to the debate essentially demotivates him. He said “it is not an environment where you can make a robust technical presentation and have it appreciated.”
As hard as it must have been for him to admit that the other side ever had quality, he did. Jagdeo said, “There was a time when they had good people to speak on these things.” In this regard, he mentioned, Desmond Hoyte, Kenneth King, Winston Murray.
Jagdeo said, “There was a time when you were encouraged to go and debate because these were people, even if you disagree with them, you could have related to their position. Now imagine debating, (opposition Member of Parliament), Sherod (Duncan) on budget. It is a far cry from the past. It has degenerated, a bunch of neophytes, semi thugs.”
While Jagdeo bemoaned the inadequacies of current opposition members, it has not escaped the public’s attention that the quality of arguments presented by his own members over the past three has been less than desirable.
Many ministers spend more time in their presentations politicking rather than outlining the direction in which their ministry is headed for the budgetary year. Some ministers even exhaust their 35 minutes condemning the work of APNU+AFC but fail to convey a decent idea of how their allocations will be spent to supersede the work of their predecessor.
