Approval of Government’s Policy in President’s Address
3448 15 Mar, 2012
Mr. Hinds: I rise to move the motion standing in my name that we, the Tenth Parliament of Guyana, at this sitting of the National Assembly, commend and thank His Excellency for his address made at the ceremonial opening of the Tenth Parliament of Guyana on Friday, 10th February, 2012, and approve the policy adumbrated therein.
We must, first of all, think of the circumstances in which our President would have had to frame his address, and in which we must consider it. As we know, after our citizens, who were moved to do so November last, 28th, had cast their votes, and after their votes were counted, it was found that, for the first time since our independence, none of us of the contending parties had received the majority of the votes cast. We of the PPP/C had received 49.2 per cent of the votes, receiving thirty-two seats; the APNU forty per cent, receiving twenty-six seats; AFC 10.8 per cent, receiving seven seats.
According to the provisions of our Constitution, Mr. Donald Ramotar, the head of the PPP/C list, was proclaimed President of Guyana and soon thereafter was sworn in as such. It is commonplace to describe the outcome of our last election as a new dispensation, and justifiably so. It is also common among commentators to say that the people of Guyana voted for a situation where no party would have won an absolute majority. I would challenge that spin. I would recognise it as an outcome; for I am sure that everyone who voted, voted for his or her party to win with an absolute majority. I make this point because not only our President, and not only us, as politicians here in this House, but all of us, as citizens of Guyana, find ourselves in a new situation. In my view it was this background that must have been before our President as he worked on his speech.
I can concur with those who say that His Excellency’s address has been short on Government, that is, our PPP/C’s detailed positions, policies, strategies and programmes, but I differ with those who may want to view this as a shortcoming. For me, this address meets our situation. It points out the dangers and opportunities ahead of us, as we look to the next five years. In staying away from detailed PPP/C positions – and we have our positions – the door is kept open for ideas, suggestions and proposals; much has been left open, and no doubt deliberately so, to encourage participation and to develop a sense of inclusion.
In his address, the President has come across as what he is: a man of the people, a man for all people – courteous, referring to others kindly, not triumphant, not boasting, not reluctant to congratulate you, Mr. Speaker and our Deputy Speaker, acknowledging the valued enduring friendships he built during his twenty years as a Member of this Hon. House, not only among his colleagues, but also across the aisle. He offered advice to and encouraged new Members of this honorable House. Certainly, it was a President and an address for this season of a new dispensation, when for the first time we are faced with a situation in which no party has an absolute majority.
In considering the President’s address in greater detail one can see that he addressed the main issues of concern to our nation.
• Firstly, it was the prospects for the success of this Tenth Parliament with a minority Government.
• Secondly, the international situation, complicated and complex, and in which we must keep aware of what is happening, and we must build partnership.
• Thirdly, the state of the economy and how we can, and how we must, earn our way in the world.
• Fourthly, education and labour, enhancing our capacity to work smarter, better, faster and less costly, and improving our attitude to work and working.
• Fifthly, he spoke about health issues, raising the level of health care services available locally.
• Sixthly, he spoke about housing and water, continuing our programmes to have every Guyanese well housed and well supplied with water.
• Seventhly, he addressed crime and security. Criminal activities keep evolving and advancing, and we must make sure our security forces stay ahead.
• Eighthly, he addressed vulnerable groups in society and pointed out that they always need our compassion.
He ended by calling again for us to work together.
Concerning the prospects for success of this Tenth Parliament, with a minority government, His Excellency pointed out that experience and guidance for this new dispensation could be garnered from the annals of history. Minority governments have not been uncommon in Canada, Australia and England over the years. The Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway have had minority governments for more than two-thirds of their post World War II period. Denmark, Sweden and Norway have had more minority cabinets than majority cabinets. Most of the minority governments in all three countries have been single party cabinets rather than coalitions. None has shared ministries - without a coalition.
His Excellency acknowledged the mixed results that minority government administrations have yielded in these various countries and he asked, of this Tenth Parliament of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, how will ours perform? As His Excellency asserted, the answers lie ahead of us; they are also within us, and a lot will depend on what attitude we take at this time. I will add, not only we in this House, but every member of the electorate, every citizen of our country, has the answers within him or her. It is not only citizens, but also those who would consciously or subconsciously seek to influence developments in this land of ours.
His Excellency acknowledged that, yes, we have our differences. This is perfectly natural. We will continue to have varying views on many issues. The important thing is how we move forward in resolving our positions. His Excellency further admonished that if we are to avoid gridlock and inertia, political cooperation in the interest of development of Guyana must exist.
His Excellency forthrightly warned that, given the significant development under the PPP/C over the last nineteen years, this administration would be loath to accept gridlock that can stymie Guyana’s development and, while willing to exercise patience, forbearance and reasonableness in the interest of all our people, will not be held ransom to intractable postures. Bearing in mind is His Excellency’s call for consensus and compromise, and resistance from the temptation for any party to ride roughshod over another. Although, from our perspective, we have seen repeated attempts to ride roughshod over established parliamentary customs, traditions and practices, and Westminster conventions, consensus and compromise remain the Government’s foremost desire.
With reference to the international situation, His Excellency stressed that we are living in an international environment that is very complicated, and also very difficult. We therefore have to keep focused on international events, maintaining awareness of the international socioeconomic and political developments, such as the current deepening economic crisis being experienced by some European Union nations, the United States of America and Japan; the oil embargo against Iran and the escalating oil prices in the Middle East, which is the traditional supplier of the world’s petroleum. We must keep aware of all of these, since any, and more so all taken together, have potentially heavy ramifications on our lives and livelihood.
His Excellency affirmed that we must continue to build and consolidate our relations with our traditional partners while, at the same time, broadening our relations with others. In this regard, His Excellency directed us to the fact that the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - emerging on the global financial scene, are broadening the base of the world’s economic activity and helping to provide stabilisation against global recession. The PPP/C Government can proudly boast of the significant ongoing strategic relationships being nurtured with these growing powerhouses.
With respect to Brazil: Guyana has been the co-beneficiary of the Takatu River Bridge, constructed by Brazil and opened 31st July, 2009, linking Lethem to Brazil. Following the meetings and joint communications by Presidents Jagdeo and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a Brazilian Government mission came to Guyana, and subsequently a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was entered into for the Brazilian side to develop a study of potential hydropower sites within Guyana. Both the Guyanese and Brazilian Governments are keeping before them the attractive possibilities for the development of hydropower sites in Guyana, for the sale of electric energy to Brazil – specifically into northern Brazil.
With respect to Russia: In August 2010 Guyana decided to add Russia to the list of countries for which the visa requirement was abolished. In 2011, the Russian Government, through the former Russian Chargé d’affaires, had reiterated its interest in providing debt relief to Guyana, for the remaining portion of debt owed by the Government under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries agreement. Only last week, the current Russian ambassador, while briefing the press on the election victory of President Vladimir Putin, indicated that Russia is seeking to open more opportunities for Guyanese students to study there. In September, 2011, students were sent from Guyana to Moscow University to study. The ambassador further indicated that the local embassy was moving toward finding ways to bring more Russians to sample Guyana’s tourism products. Despite its local industrial disputes, and recently exposed boat problems, the Russian company, RUSAL provides great potential for increasing levels of bauxite production and all economic activity along the Berbice River.
With respect to India: The outgoing Indian High Commissioner, at the end of February, 2012, reiterated the commitment of the Indian Government to support the development agenda of Guyana, making reference to the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC), the medium through which the two countries share development experiences. The outgoing High Commissioner said: “Relations are on the upswing. We are getting more Indian entrepreneurs interested in Guyana; and we have cooperated in Guyana’s agricultural diversification programme, and we hope to continue doing more in Guyana.”
So, we are building relationships with new countries.
With respect to China: This year, we know, marks forty years of relations between Guyana and China. With a recent visit by a Chinese Government delegation, the Governments of Guyana and the People’s Republic of China further deepened bilateral relations on 2nd March by executing agreement for a US$4.726 million economic and technical cooperation grant, and for the provision of firefighting equipment costing US$2.46 million. We have had a number of projects successfully completed with the assistance of the Chinese Government. We look forward soon to having the two roll-on roll-off ferries put into operation between Parika and Supenaam, greatly increasing the traffic for increased development in Essequibo. Today, there are Chinese companies in Guyana working in the ICT area. We know that ICT would play an important role in the development of our economy as a whole.
Reference was made also to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). His Excellency went on to expound the pivotal role that Guyana stands poised to pursue as a bridge between the Caribbean and South America. Within the last three years Guyana has held the critical roles of chairmanship of both CARICOM and UNASUR. The time is ripe for the much needed broader integration between these two trading blocks, and this administration is committed to being a catalyst toward this venture.
His Excellency also referred to Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy and the prominent global stature into which same has catapulted this nation of ours. This administration remains committed to implementing this strategy which will yield environmental rewards to be reaped for generations to come, not only by Guyanese, but by the entire world.
As we look to the future, we need to look back to where we had come from, so that we could be heartened with the progress we have made, and so that we can assure ourselves that we can, working together, make even more progress. This would have been the intention of our President as he referred to the journey that we have been taking over the last nineteen/ twenty years, from being a heavily indebted poor country, when forced to enter into an agreement in 1989, experiencing since then growth from a US$317 million economy in 1991 to a US$2.261 billion economy in 2010, largely under this PPP/C administration. With that, there has been an increase in our average per capita annual income, from US$304 to US$2,533 through good management and prudence which the PPP/C has always demonstrated and will continue to demonstrate.
His Excellency cited the numerous financial indicators which are testimony to developmental success during the period of this Government’s administration - the increase in commercial bank assets; increased volumes of loans to the private sector which significantly decreased interest rates; slashing of the country’s external debt to less than half of what it was; the reduction and stabilisation of the inflation rate to single digits for more than a decade. These are real significant achievements that the PPP/C, during the last nineteen years, has achieved, and we will continue on the same course.
His Excellency opined, and Government echoed the same sentiment, that Guyana is indeed poised for a rapid take off. The key to this would be the availability of less costly renewable energy and the slashing of our fuel import bill, enabling greater manufacturing and agro processing.
His Excellency also pointed to the PPP/C’s ongoing policy for maintaining and improving the traditional sectors such as sugar, rice, bauxite, gold mining, and at the same time developing non-traditional agriculture including aquaculture, livestock, fruits and vegetables, and all the new areas which we have been speaking about.
In particular, where we are today, before us, we see the prospects of a petroleum discovery. His Excellency went to great lengths to caution that prudence needs to dictate the way forward in this venture, and that the experiences of other countries should serve as lessons to us. We must avoid - and this is a caution for all of us, all citizens of Guyana – what is referred to in the literature as the resource curse. I saw in last Wednesday’s newspaper article, former Minister Henry Jeffery referred to this particular issue, which we should bear in mind, the issue of resource curse. We need to take lessons from other countries and avoid such a development in Guyana if our hope of finding oil and gas in large quantities is realised. For this, we have been making preparations with the assistance of our traditional partners. The United States of America and Canada have been holding seminars so that we can become acquainted with what is required, the regulations that would be required, and we are beginning to make arrangements for such to come in place in good time.
The President spoke about us continuing to pursue programmes for the construction of a deep water harbour, road and possibly rail links to northern Brazil, and a road link with Surname by the constructing of a bridge across the Corentyne River.
He also spoke about the need for us to develop ourselves to provide globally competitive goods and services, and it was pointed out that we must not rule out any form of organisation of production of goods and services once it meets our people’s needs. So we will embrace small and large companies, public and privately owned firms, cooperative societies, and so on. We will embrace new technologies also and there is the programme of providing the additional fiber-optic connections, particularly the one to Brazil in which Government has invested in, and also providing a backbone along the coast. We must do things better, faster and cheaper while creating thousands of much needed jobs for our people. We must note that, as the good book states, “we will learn our keep through our work”, and if we need to be kept better, we must learn how to work better, faster, and it keeps us less costly.
His Excellency established this administration’s cornerstone for the development of Guyana, as the people are the drivers of development. This Government is committed to invest heavily in developing its human capital through improvements in the education, health, housing and water sectors. So, we are equipping our people to produce better and to earn more. In education and labour, we have been focusing, in particular in education, in making acceptable educational facilities available throughout our country, to make the educational opportunities in the Hinterland and in the countryside as good as in the cities.
We are heartened about the achievements of our students at the Caribbean Examination Council/Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CXC/CSEC). From 1997 to date, Guyana has produced the most outstanding overall students in the Caribbean nine times and our students have received nineteen other CSEC regional awards. We are almost returning, as I look across the aisle, to the time when a young Rupert Roopnarine and others were winning for us, at times, a half of all the open scholarships at the University College, then, of the West Indies. So we will continue along this track, and we continue to expect that our students would do well in CSEC and other examinations.
We expect to continue the training of teachers; we expect to continue the improvements in the provision of all text to exercise books. We intend to continue to seek scholarships for our secondary school students, and we intend to continue working to increase the capacity of our workers. In this regard, we could not help but refer once again, as our President did, to our programme of the One Laptop Per Family. It is only this morning that a lady from the south of Georgetown who had taken herself to help organised some boys and young men, who would be playing around the area, into a football team, and I was pleased to hear her, said that she has been using her laptop - this “One Laptop Per Family” that she received - to help to arrange…[Interruption]
Health care services were referred to, our achievements thus far and our continued programmes to raise health care service in Guyana to even higher levels. Some of my other colleagues will speak in more details about our programmes which have brought more hospitals in the Regions, dialysis treatment, kidney transplant, cancer treatment, burnt treatment, heart surgery. We are speaking now and the President referred to our plans, with the assistance of the Government of India, to establish a specialty hospital.
For improved housing, we are continuing our programme to provide every Guyanese with adequate housing. Our plans are ongoing to provide some thirty thousand additional families with the possibilities for improved housing within the next five years.
Our President recognised crime is a phenomenon that keeps evolving every day and all nations are in a constant battle to provide effective and efficient security for it citizens. Our Government continues the fight against the narcotic trade which spawns so many other related criminal activities and which threatens to destroy our society if left unabated. The Government has expended considerably sum of money in equipping and building both the security personnel and security infrastructure. Capacity building exercises such as the recently concluded Fused Response 2012, conducted in partnership with the United States of America Government, which has been aimed at combating crime and illicit trafficking, and these are all testimony to Government support of the fight against crime.
I would refer also to the recent training undertaken with assistance from the Government of China so that the officers in our Guyana Defence Force (GDF), in the air corps of our GDF, can be better equipped to operate and maintain our Y12 aircraft.
We were called upon to recall our fellow citizens who may have suffered, who may have been left behind for whatever reason, as we grow and develop. We must be compassionate and we have had a programme to deal with the problems of vulnerable groups in society. It is our programme, the legislative programme, to bring greater penalties against persons who would do violence to women and youth, differently able and the elderly poor, which is well known.
I would end, as our President did also, calling again for us to commit ourselves to work together in this new dispensation and, in this, we are committed to an environment characterised by respect for the rule of law, adherence to internationally acceptable human and social rights, including respect for the independence of the media and respect and confidence in the functioning of public institutions, including, most of all, this National Assembly.
The Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Brigadier (Ret.) David Granger, on Friday, February 10th …[Interruption from Opposition Members]
…in his brief response to His Excellency address, opined that under this new dispensation and configuration the Tenth Parliament should seek new methods to manage its business. This administration holds firm to the principles enshrined in the Constitution of this Republic, which is the supreme law of the land. This administration will continue to respect the rule of law and honour the body of tried and tested conventions and practices established in this and other Westminster parliaments throughout the Commonwealth. The Hon. Leader of the Opposition also called upon the Speaker to invite His Excellency to make more functional visits to Parliament, a notion warmly embraced by you, Mr. Speaker, in your brief remarks thereafter. The Hon. Leader of the Opposition further called upon the Speaker to invite the President to report on the state of the nation every year before the presentation of the budget. We do hope that these were earnest wishes.
In closing, the Hon. Leader of the Opposition called upon the Speaker to ensure that the will of the majority in this House is respected. I wish to remind the Hon. Member of this National Assembly that the Speaker’s mandate is to also respect the voice of every Member of Parliament, as he has been so doing, and to uphold the Standing Orders and not to allow arbitrary changes.
The Hon. Member Mr. Ramjattan had made the observation that no legislative agenda has been declared in the said address, but expressed the hope that same could be worked out at the tripartite level, and we would accord with that. We would say that if this new dispensation had put forward a lengthy unilateral legislative agenda when the President spoke to this House we may have heard “who say that it is going to pass”. So it is open, and we want to encourage the other Members in this House, at the tripartite level, the tripartite meetings, to work together, to develop an agenda, a legislative agenda, that is relevant and suitable for us at this time.
As leader of this House, I wish to commend Hon. Member Mr. Ramjattan for signalling his party’s commitment to work with the Government to ensure the greater happiness and full peace for all Guyanese. This is the ultimate aim of this administration and I have no doubt that it is the aim of everyone of us in this Hon. House.
As leader of this House, I wish to sincerely thank His Excellency for his address to the National Assembly which was made on the occasion of the ceremonial opening of the first session of the Tenth Parliament of Guyana and I herein move the motion for the approval of the policies adumbrated therein. Thank you. [Applause]
Mr. Hinds (replying): Mr. Speaker, we have had a long and full debate on the motion that I have presented. Somewhat as to have been expected, there have been some very peculiar views. It will not help any for me to seek to rebut one by one the points made by the Opposition. The only thing that I will allow myself to say is to let us look at where Guyana was nineteen years ago, and let us look at where Guyana is today. Let us take account of the tenfold increase in real numbers in economic matters reflected in the great growth of motor cars on the streets, new buildings, and new levels of services being offered in education and in health.
Yes, we accept that there are issues in our society. Yes, we accept that there is much more to do, but we maintain that over these 19 years and in particular since 2005, we have had in Guyana a period of steady progress which many institutions attest to. So, I would ask that as we go to the vote, that we all will reflect in a total way and would find in their hearts that they ought to support this motion. I beg you to put the motion.
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