3RD SITTING – THIRTEENTH PARLIAMENT | 2026 BUDGET DEBATE | DAY 4

Honorable members, Mr. Speaker,

Thank you members. We will resume our

consideration

of the business of this third sitting

with prayers led by the clerk.

Almighty God, we who are here gathered

together do most humbly beseech thee to

guide us in all our consultations

so that we may together build a land

where knowledge is free, where the minds

without fear and the head is high and

where words come from the depth of

truth. Grant us, oh God, the hidden

guidance, so that we may deal justly

with the several causes that come before

us. laying aside all private interests,

prejudices, and personal preferences, so

that the result of our councils may be

to the glory of thy blessed name, the

maintenance of true religion, the

preservation of justice, the safety,

honor, and happiness of the president,

and the peace and prosperity of Guyana.

Grant us, oh God, the vision so to lead,

that all the people of this fair land

may enter that state of brotherhood and

unity, where their minds led forward by

thee into ever widening thought and

action.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Honorable members,

please be seated.

Honorable members, we begin

our resumption

with the presentation from

the honorable member

Miss Odessa

Primus. Honorable member, you may

proceed.

Jambo,

today I stand before you as a

representative of a party that soar

through the skies like an eagle. and we

are proud to be in the house to

represent the people of this country. I

am here today

to speak about the Ministry of Culture,

Youth and Sport aspect of the budget.

Now

I was asked to look for the flaws within

that section of the budget and if I may

say so myself that entire section is

flawed

that the entire budget is flawed

including the cover of the budget.

Now let me tell you something. Please

don't interrupt me sir. This is not

church. Let me tell you something.

When we look at the budget now, let me

tell you, um, Honorable Edgel, Mr.

Speaker, let me tell you where the

problem begins. The problem begins when

you have a minister who lacks vision and

an understanding of how culture, youth,

and sport works. Perhaps if he shared a

closer relationship with Dr. Frank

Anthony, he would have been able to get

SOME HELP. HOW COULD YOU HAVE a ministry

AND HAVE NOT ONE SINGLE POLICY FOR THAT

MINISTRY? WHETHER IT BE YOUTH, WHETHER

IT BE SPORT, OR WHETHER IT BE CULTURE.

>> THAT IN ITSELF says that there exist a

flaw.

>> Let me explain to you honorable Ramson.

MR. SPEAKER, LET ME tell you

this IS EQUIVALENT TO BUILDING A HOUSE

AND THEN SEEKING A PERSON TO CREATE THE

PLAN FOR SAID HOUSE THAT YOU JUST BUILT.

DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE?

>> NO.

>> Can't make sense only to the honorable

Ramson.

>> No sense at all. There has TO BE

SOMETHING THAT GUIDES that informs what

happens within those ministries.

IT IS SAFE TO CONCLUDE THAT THE POLICY

OF THE MINISTRY of Youth Sport of

Culture, youth and SPORT IS A NO POLICY

um position that they have taken. Mr.

Speaker, I took the opportunity

to Google

and I want to put Google out there just

in case anybody's going to come out and

say AI,

what policy is and let me read WHAT

GOOGLE SAYS. GOOGLE says policy defines

goals. It establish operational

boundaries. It ensures ACCOUNTABILITY

AND IT GUIDES decision making to align

with public interest.

Now Google ain't stopped there. This is

not my idea. GOOGLE BRIGHT. WHAT GOOGLE

CONTINUED TO say is that it ensures

consistency and efficiency, performance

evaluation, ACCOUNTABILITY AND

governance and of course it ensures

legal protection.

So in other words, we the artists in

this country have got NO LEGAL

PROTECTION. IN OTHER WORDS,

>> NO COPYRIGHT LAWS. IN OTHER WORDS,

>> IT MEANS THAT THE GOVERNMENT AND BY

EXTENSION THE MINISTER HAS A PROBLEM

WITH ACCOUNTABILITY

BECAUSE THAT FACILITATES for evaluation.

Minister

um honorable speaker sorry I'm talking

to everybody. Honorable speaker let me

tell you sir what I have found within

these things. I looked at the list of

words that we are prohibited from saying

sir and so I don't want to be

disrespectful by any means in this

honorable house. So I decided that to

describe what is happening I will say it

is ruption.

It is ruption that starts with a C.

That is what we are experiencing here

under the ministry of culture youth and

sport. Since there is absolutely no

accountability,

>> there is also um what the speaker

interprets as imputation. Check the

standing orders.

>> Thank you very much for that, sir. And

your interpretation is I shouldn't use

it.

>> Repeat. Repeat again.

>> No, I'm asking. Are you saying that I

should not say that?

>> All I'm saying to be cautious.

>> Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate it.

>> Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate it.

guided.

Honorable members, I looked at the title

given to the budget, putting people

first. I may have heard that somewhere

before. Uh not quite sure where. Oh, I

did. Right. And I was very happy. That

is one of the things that I actually

like. And I'm happy particularly because

almost 30 years being in GOVERNMENT AND

THE PPP FINALLY DECIDE THAT THEY ARE

GOING TO PUT PEOPLE FIRST. AND NOW

LOOKING AT THAT, IMAGINE AFTER ALL THESE

YEARS, YOU HAVE NOW DECIDED TO PUT THE

PEOPLE FIRST. THANK GOD FOR THAT. BUT

WHEN YOU EXAMINE THE BUDGET, HONORABLE

MEMBERS, WHEN YOU EXAMINE THE BUDGET,

DOES IT ACTUALLY PUT THE PEOPLE FIRST?

Absolutely not.

>> Absolutely not. Now for the sake FOR THE

SAKE OF THIS DEBATE, WHAT I WILL do is

go through each of the different

sectors. WE ARE GOING TO START WITH WE

ARE GOING TO START WITH CULTURE AND LET

ME TELL YOU IF THERE IS ANYBODY IN THIS

HOUSE WHO HAS AN AUTHORITY TO SPEAK ON

CULTURE, IT WOULD BE ME.

I HAVE BEEN IN THAT INDUSTRY FROM

CHILDHOOD AND OUTSIDE OF MYSELF AND THE

HONORABLE PSYCHO, WE ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE

WHO CAN TELL YOU DIRECTLY WHAT ARE THE

STRUGGLES FACED BY THE PEOPLE WHO ARE IN

THE CULTURAL INDUSTRY.

>> Honorable speaker,

>> MR. MR. SPEAKER, LET ME TELL YOU as it

relates to as it relates to culture,

youth and sport. UNFORTUNATELY,

BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT SEE

YOUTH AS IMPORTANT,

THEY HAVE GOTTEN ONE OF THE SMALLEST

BUDGETS ALLOCATED TO ANY MINISTRY. AND I

WAS SO CONCERNED WHEN I LOOKED AT THE $8

BILLION THAT THEY WERE GIVEN last year

and this year they had TO REDUCE THAT TO

$6 BILLION. AND WE HAVE OVER SE 70% OF

THE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY ARE YOUTHS.

SO YOU COULD IMAGINE 70% OF THE PEOPLE

ARE ONLY GIVEN THE SMALLEST PART OF

ANYTHING. THIS CAN'T BE A GOVERNMENT

THAT IS PUTTING THE PEOPLE FIRST.

>> WHICH PEOPLE WHO

CERTAINLY NOT THE PEOPLE WHO ARE

INVOLVED IN YOUTH SPORT AND CULTURE.

CERTAINLY NOT OUR ARTISTS. CERTAINLY NOT

OUR OUR UM SPORTSMEN AND WOMEN.

CERTAINLY NOT OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. THIS

GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED AND THIS BUDGET

THIS BUDGET IS A CLEAR ILLUSTRATION THAT

THEY INTEND TO CONTINUE FAILING.

>> MR. SPEAKER,

>> no sir, YOU DON'T STUDY ME AND FOOD.

HONORABLE MEMBER, things so HARD IN THIS

COUNTRY, I WENT TO BUY $300 CELERY. THE

PEOPLE BROUGHT OUT THREE CELERY. I

BECAME ALLERGIC TO CELERY.

THINGS HARD WITHIN THIS COUNTRY.

HONORABLE JAMES BOND, DON'T PRETEND AS

THOUGH YOU HAVE NOT BEEN SUFFERING.

HONORABLE MEMBERS,

HONORABLE MEMBERS, LET ME TELL YOU

SOMETHING. AS IT relates to the

preservation AS IT RELATES TO THE

PRESERVATION OF CULTURE IN THIS COUNTRY.

WHEN IT COMES TO CULTURE, THERE IS

ABSOLUTELY NO PLACE IN THIS COUNTRY THAT

WE CAN GO AND LEARN ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO

WENT BEFORE US WHO PARTICIPATED IN

CULTURE. WE HAVE A MUSEUM. Tell me,

honorable members, let me go through the

names of some OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE

CONTRIBUTED SIGNIFICANTLY TO CULTURE.

AND WHERE WHERE HAVE WE WHERE HAVE WE

EVEN VENTURED TO ENSURE THAT THEIR

CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR CULTURE IS

PRESERVED?

The National Cultural Center is a

monument that perhaps is one of the

monuments or one of the that's the

museum or a monument of some sort. Now

let me tell you I have performed

countless times at the National Cultural

Center and if you go into that you don't

go to the culture center James YOU MEL

ANYWHERE. THERE'S NO PLACE WHERE PEOPLE

COULD DO ANY S ACTING. SO YOU DON'T KNOW

WHAT'S GOING ON. I PERFORMED AT YOUR

PLACE. NOW HONORABLE MEMBERS,

honorable members,

WHEN THE PPP WAS VICTIMIZED IN JAMES, I

WAS THE ONE WHO WENT TO PERFORM AT HIS

PLACE. HE COULD GET A DOLLAR SO THAT HE

DON'T HAVE TO FEEL THE HARDSHIPS OF THE

PVP GOVERNMENT.

WHEN INGRATITUDE WAS SHARING THAT

HONORABLE member got the lion's share.

>> He did not pay me. HE DIDN'T HAVE MONEY.

I was helping him.

>> NOW, LET ME TELL YOU, HONORABLE MEMBER,

LET US GO to that list THAT I JUST

MENTIONED. WE HAVE NAMES LIKE THE MIGHTY

REBEL. HOW MANY YOUNG PEOPLE YOU COULD

GO INTO A SCHOOL AND TELL THEM ABOUT

REBEL AND THEY COULD TELL YOU WHO THE

MIGHTY REBEL IS? H HOW MANY YOUNG PEOPLE

COULD TELL US ABOUT HENRY RODNEY'S

CONTRIBUTION TO THEATER AS WELL AS TO

THE CULTURE?

HABIB KHAN HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST

OUTSTANDING COMEDIANS IN THIS COUNTRY.

THAT MAN LOVED THE THE ARTS SO MUCH THAT

HE DROPPED OUT OF LAW SCHOOL AND WENT

AHEAD AND PURSUED HIS CAREER IN STANDUP

COMEDY. HONORABLE MEMBERS, I STAND

BEFORE YOU AND IT PAINS MY HEART TO TELL

YOU THAT BOTH HENRY RODNEY AND MR. HABIB

KHAN DIED POOUS IN THIS COUNTRY. AND I'M

NOT SAYING THAT TO DISCREDIT THOSE

PEOPLE OR THEIR FAMILIES, BUT TO LET YOU

UNDERSTAND THAT AS AN ARTIST, WHAT THE

GOVERNMENT IS PROMOTING IS POVERTY.

YOU CANNOT TELL ME THAT POVERTY IS WHAT

YOU WANT FOR YOUR OWN PEOPLE. AS AN

ARTIST, WE HAVE THE HONORABLE SAIKU HERE

WITH US. HE COULD TELL YOU HOW MUCH THE

GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTED TO HIS CRAFT.

TELL us I give you want some time THINK

NOTHING. HE SAID NOTHING. THEY HAVE NOT

CONTRIBUTED ANYTHING BECAUSE YOU KNOW

WHY THE HONORABLE MEMBER'S idea of

promoting culture is having a one Guyana

show one and two times a year. Amen.

>> Our culture CANNOT BE SOMETHING THAT YOU

JUST DO ONE AND TWO TIMES. That is not

how it works. Honorable member, our

culture should be preserved. OH, FOR THE

SAKE OF PROSPERITY, WE SHOULD DO better

to go through to continue going through

that list are SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO WE

LOST. WE HAVE THE GREAT DAPHNE ROGERS.

MEMBERS SITTING IN THIS HOUSE DON'T EVEN

KNOW, INCLUDING MR. RAMSON, WHO DAPHNE

Rogers is. WE HAVE RON ROBINSON. WE HAVE

THE HONORABLE DAVE MARTIN, WHO OF COURSE

A LOT OF TIMES WHEN THESE PEOPLE DIE,

YOU HAVE THE PRESIDENT AND everybody in

this country showing up to the FUNERALS

AND TALKING ABOUT how great they were

and all of THESE SORTS OF THINGS. HOW

MUCH HAVE WE AS A COUNTRY GIVEN TO THOSE

PEOPLE WHO HAVE DEDICATED THEIR LIVES TO

THE CULTURE IN THIS COUNTRY? NOTHING.

YOU JUST GET TO HAVE A FUNERAL AT THE

CULTURE CENTER. THAT IS IT. Nothing

more. THERE IS NO PLACE THAT YOU CAN GO

and see what the contributions of those

great men and women who went before us.

We have um to continue the list we have

um Andre O'Brien and also I would like

to draw our attention to the living

legends and I'm saying and mentioning

some of THESE LEGENDS. I'M MENTIONING

SOME OF THESE LEGENDS BECAUSE WHILE THEY

ARE ALIVE I HOPE THAT AS A COUNTRY WE

COULD DO BETTER BECAUSE IF WHEN I LOOK

AT THIS BUDGET THERE IS NOTHING THAT

CATERS to those PERSONS WHO CONTINUE TO

contribute to THE CULTURE. LET ME GO

through the list for the sake of the

honorable member.

Miss Desireel,

VIVIAN DANIELS,

DES MARGARET LAWRENCE, PALOMA MUHAMMAD,

MALCOLM DEFRATUS, JENNIFER THUS, SIMONE

DAING, THE YURUBO SINGERS, JEM MADU

NASIMENTO,

um Eddie Grant, and of course the list

can go on and on and on forever. But

just like James Town, there is

absolutely nothing to show of the

existence of the history. I attempted to

go to Jamestown, honorable member, and

if the Minister of Culture decides that

it is good to marry culture with

tourism, I would like to assist him

here. These are places that we should

seek to preserve and to restore because

these are places, whether positive or

negative, that are spoken about all over

the world. You stop AND PEOPLE CAN TELL

YOU ABOUT JAMESTOWN, BUT YOU CAN'T GO

THERE. I TRIED GOING INTO JAMESTOWN. I

said, "Well, listen, I wasn't there when

Jamestown when Jim Jones was there."

Jonestown, sorry. Yes. A mistake is all

right. IT'S A MISTAKE JUST LIKE THIS

BUDGET. LISTEN. LET ME TELL YOU

SOMETHING.

NOTHING EXISTS THERE AS IT RELATES to

Jonestown. You cannot go in there and

find anything. IN FACT, IT'S SO MUCH

BUSH AND TREES BEFORE YOU GET THERE that

it is extremely difficult to go there.

And I'm HOPING THAT THE CULTURAL

INDUSTRY IN THIS COUNTRY DOES NOT BECOME

another Jones story.

Honorable members, honorable members,

let me tell you something.

the theater and members of theater they

have been surviving on crutches

and because in that industry we are a

family we have to hold each other up. So

if somebody's crutch breaks it therefore

means that the person

it

a death.

therefore means that culture is

suffering and continues to suffer. I

particularly

went through what we have to offer and

let me tell you what are some of the

things that I see missing before Mr.

Ramson during the time of his honorable

colleague we had drama festival

and let me tell you this here today

honorable members drama festival is not

just a festival where people come

together and write scripts and they

perform drama festival is one of the

ways that help to save the culture

because very many people would like to

put on a show at the cultural center and

people ask why there aren't very many

shows at the culture center outside of

the fact that the minister is

micromanaging the entire culture center.

One of the reasons is because it is

extremely expensive and when you go to

the business community they they don't

really do much for you unless you're

extremely popular and you know somebody

who going to help you because of you.

You understand me? So that there puts

bread in the mouth of those people who

are in the arts. But the honorable

minister has decided that he's going to

remove drama festival. So now our young

budding actors, singers, dancers and so

on, those opportunities are gone and

that honorable members of this house is

a sad state of affairs.

Now let me tell you I went through a

couple of things and I thought maybe

because of

um the lacking in this particular area I

should help the honorable member because

as a member of this house my job is not

to come here to create enemies in as

much as it isn't to come to create

friends but to ensure that the people of

this country are properly represented to

ensure that the people of this country

get what they deserve and the cultural

industry is dying. In as much as the

honorable member would have these shows

once a year, it only covers a certain

sector. So you might only get actors,

there might be nothing for dancers,

mashmani and these times are the only

times that you have cultural activities

right there. And where do you as a gy if

you're interested in learning how to do

flouncing in in having a deeper

understanding of all these different

colorful people that we see on the road

there is absolutely no place that that

can happen. Honorable members and that

says that we're in A SAD STATE. NOTHING

IN THIS BUDGET ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN

THIS PEOPLE CENTERED BUDGET IS FOR THE

people who are part of the arts.

You know, I listened to the presentation

of Honorable Jacobs

and I would like to take a little

excerpt from what was said because

before getting to this house, if there

is one thing that irks me greatly is the

fact that political parties in this

country, if they did not build something

or it's not their brainchild, they leave

it to fall apart. And that is

unfortunate because it is not the

political party who suffers as A RESULT

BUT THE PEOPLE of this country who

suffers as a result. YOU KNOW I HEARD

THE HONORABLE MENTION THE LEGACY OF THE

PNC IS DARBON PARK.

Additionally he said the athletes are in

their hanging out clothes. Now the only

people in their hanging out clothes are

persons who are homeless, people who

have a disability and all of these sorts

of things. They have nowhere to go.

Their family has thrown them out. DRUG

ADDICTS. THOSE ARE NOT PEOPLE THAT WE

MAKE fun of. Honorable members. WE

SHOULD NOT BE SENT TO SUCH A PLACE WHERE

WE LOOK DOWN ON PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THE

POSITION THAT THEY are placed in.

I did not appreciate that for one

second. Now, let me tell you um

honorable u member Jacobs, I don't want

I didn't say that to because I I mean

ill, but I'm hoping that you do better.

However, I must tell you that in my

preparations to get here, I found out

about how things are going as it relates

to both ministers because I want to

represent people. And based on what the

people on the ground are saying, Jacobs

is actually the minister that trying.

The other minister that WAS THERE, HE

AIN'T trying nothing.

>> NOTHING. SO I THANK YOU VERY MUCH AT

LEAST FOR PUTTING effort as it relates

to um sports in this country. Now that

honorable member has no understanding of

sports. When he was at QC and they play

a little scrubby outside, HE COME WITH

KNEE GUARD SHIN BAD SORTS OF THINGS.

THAT HONORABLE MEMBER IS THE ONLY PERSON

IN THIS COUNTRY TAG UP TO GO AND PLAY A

SCRUBBY.

SO HE HAS NO understanding of how these

things work. But I additionally WANT TO

SAY THAT WHILE THIS MINISTRY focuses on

sports and culture, it also affects the

mothers. It affects the fathers who got

to go around and beg. They can't afford

pegs for the children. You understand

me? It is unfortunate.

>> Deporties. Speaking about deportes, um,

honorable member, um, I noticed you have

a vested interest in deportes. So I

brought this article here for you

honorable member that says LET ME READ

IT. STAB news dated November 4, 2009.

US visa

US visa was revoked from honorable Kwami

McCoy

BECAUSE YOU INTERESTED you think you are

arm of the US government

AND TO CONTINUE HONORABLE MEMBERS

BECAUSE I AM HERE TODAY. I am here today

TO REPRESENT THE YOUTH THAT WE ARE

FAILING IN THIS HONORABLE HOUSE.

>> Honorable member, the honorable minister

of parliamentary affairs is on her feet.

>> Point of order, Mr. Mr. Speaker, the

honorable member needs to retract her

statement. The honorable member has a US

visa. We do not

>> I dated. It is dated.

>> It is dated.

Honorable uh minister, the honorable

member is quoting from a 2009 Stabbrook

News article,

>> right? Saying that the visa was revoked

in 2009.

>> I don't know where our sources are from.

Where's the source?

>> What is the source?

>> Could be Starbucks news article

>> November 4, 2009. Is that is that is

that our sources now?

>> Mr. Speaker,

>> continue honorable member.

>> Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. are

appreciated.

Mr. Speaker,

Mr. Speaker, I have a list of

recommendations even though I will

include some in between the

presentation. But let me tell you

something. I would like to draw your

attention, Mr. Speaker, to two men WHO

FOR TWO men who HAVE BEEN HELPING WHO

HAVE BEEN assisting people as it relates

TO SPORTS BECAUSE WE HAVE NO POLICY that

covers our young athletes. There is a

young man in the USA who answers to the

name Andy Madaz King. And there's a

gentleman who passed just a few months

ago. That man has been a powerhouse and

a champion. And I'm sure that honorable

member of sports can attest to that. And

his name was Joseph Rancumar.

Mr. Joseph Rancumar is one of those

people who we have sports men and women

who go over there. Oh my god. The mother

can't afford things. the father can't

afford things and I am saying that if we

had a policy in place we would not be in

THIS POSITION BECAUSE IN AS MUCH AS

THERE IS ALL THIS EXCITEMENT AND GRAND

WHEN OUR artists come back in the

country from performing overseas and

they hang these wonderful medals around

their necks for which we are proud of as

A NATION THAT IS ALL that they are

getting in very MANY CASES BECAUSE VERY

MANY OF THEM DID NOT HAVE THE money to

go there we got to go to the business

community we got to go auntie, we got to

beg, they got to call overseas. AND WE

CANNOT BE THE FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY IN

THE WORLD AND HAVE OUR ATHLETES AND OUR

ARTISTS LIVING LIKE BEGGARS IN THIS

COUNTRY.

It is disgrace disgraceful and

despicable.

AND I DO HOPE BECAUSE I DO know

>> remember I thought you said at the

beginning you read all of these words

that are

>> which one is it, sir?

Right.

>> Oh, the grace.

>> Sorry, sir.

>> Amazing grace.

>> Amazing grace. Thank you very Thank you

very much, Mr. Speaker. My my humble

apologies. It's a lot of words and we

were only given it on the first day. I

tried to remember as much as I could. Um

>> to continue. I remember your visa was

taken TO CONTINUE. Honorable members,

one of the things that we have to look

at, ONE OF THE things that we have to

look at, honorable members, is our

coaches. Oh my god. WE HAVE COACHES WHO

DEDICATE THEIR LIVES TO THE CHILDREN in

this country. YOU UNDERSTAND ME? WHEN

THEY DON'T HAVE THE COACHES go out to

their way, I HAVE NEVER MET A WEALTHY

COACH IN my life in this country. NEVER.

AND THOSE ARE PEOPLE WHO GIVE, WHO

ASSIST, WHO AID in ensuring that our

athletes go out there and do well. But

as I WAS SAYING, WE GO TO THE airport

and the honorable MEMBER PUTS ON A

FANTASTIC SHOW WHERE THEY HAVE ALL THIS

STEEL pan beating and all of these sorts

of things. Oh my god. If we had a policy

in place, it would have informed what

those people will be getting. If you

come home WITH A GOLD MEDAL, IF you can

get a HOUSE LOT OR IF YOU CAN GET A

HOUSE OR IF WE CAN GIVE YOU A CAR, BUT

THERE IS NOTHING THAT INFORMS THAT. SO

WHEN THAT GRAND ORDER IS FINISHED for

that one day, it is finished. that

cannot be acceptable by any stretch of

the imagination.

One of the things I noted within um

within the budget is the billion dollar

and change that is put to maintaining

and upkeeping the grounds the community

center grounds in this country. LISTEN,

WHEN I READ THAT, I thought that this

guy may very well be a comedian and he

doesn't know it as well.

WHEN YOU GO AROUND THIS country and you

look AT THE DEPLORABLE STATE THIS

HONORABLE member uh she's not here NAME

OF FLU BEST BROUGHT A PICTURE WITH COWS

AND SO ON OUT THERE having a frolicking

time the place without light you

understand me now we are talking about

the fastest growing economy and we

cannot feel comfortable as citizens of

this country to think that all that

matters that you got a ball field the

grass low you put some lights that is

development

>> where do they go where do they go to

ensure that they do the little washing

off, they warming up and all of that. WE

HAVE NOT PUT SYSTEMS IN PLACE FOR these

sorts of things because our thinking is

not futuristic.

>> Yeah. YEAH.

>> YOU HAVE BARTA FOR EXAMPLE, I'm a

bartition by birth, honorable members.

And as a and in Barta, I can tell you

that nothing looks significantly

different from when I was a child

growing up there. And how could we have

billions of dollars, billions of dollars

year come, year go AND IT IS NOT

REFLECTED IN THE WAY OUR country looks.

No, nobody's saying that we don't

appreciate. Nobody's saying that we

don't appreciate the work that the

ministry is doing, but we would

appreciate greatly it if it is done with

holistic thought that covers everything.

We have the beautiful synthetic ground

across there, but do we have everything

as it relates to international

standards? I heard our honorable Don't

say yes, sir. It's not true. I heard our

honorable member um uh Sarah um speaking

about our member across here as it

relates to the indigenous peoples. And

let me tell you something. Well, whether

or not he's a little Maruka, he got a

big MARUKA HEART. AND THAT IS WHAT IS

IMPORTANT.

NOW, LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. WHEN WE

TALK ABOUT SPORTS AND CULTURE, TELL ME

WHERE THAT IS REPRESENTED ACROSS THIS

COUNTRY. POINT TO THE AMARINDIAN

COMMUNITY BECAUSE THOSE CHILDREN,

THEY'RE BODIES OF WATER EVERYWHERE. SO,

they're swimming since they come out.

You understand me? There's nobody who's

going to say, "Let us put a system in

place WHERE WE CAN TRAIN THESE YOUNG

WOMEN AND TRAIN THESE YOUNG WOMEN SO

THAT THEY CAN COME BACK WITH GOLD MEDALS

FROM THE OLYMPICS." THAT does not take

rocket science. Honorable members of

this house, we cannot continue to fail

our young PEOPLE LIKE THAT. AS IT

RELATES TO AS IT RELATES to youth, YOU

KNOW WHAT IS SAD?

>> YOU KNOW WHAT IS SAD? We have um

Minister Onage building a police station

THAT IS FIVE OR SIX STORIES HIGH. BUT

POINT ME TO THE BUILDING THAT IS FIVE OR

SIX STORIES HIGH as it relates to um

rehabilitation of these young men and

women who have BEEN COMMITTING CRIMES.

THAT CANNOT BE A BUDGET THAT CATERS TO

THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY. WHICH

PEOPLE?

THERE EXISTS NO CENTER FOR THE PURPOSE

OF EDUCATION, LEARNING, UPLIFTMENT,

empowerment of any SORT THAT IS SO MANY

STORIES HIGH. SO CLEARLY WE WE ARE

PREPARING FOR FOR criminals to house

criminals and so on. So we billing we

billing WE ARE BILLING BIGGER PRISONS

BIGGER POLICE STATION BIGGER HOUSING

PLACES AND WE HAVE EVERY single day in

the news REPEAT OFFENDER. IF THAT DOES

NOT SAY SOMETHING TO YOU, THE MINISTER

OF YOUTH, I DON'T KNOW WHO IT IS GOING

TO SAY SOMETHING TO

>> WHAT system in THIS BUDGET DO YOU HAVE

THAT CATERS FOR THAT? Absolutely none.

Honorable members,

>> we look at the, YOU KNOW, IT'S SO

DIFFICULT TO get information in this

country. Every bit of information you

get got to be from some long time ago in

terms OF STATS. BUT IN 2001, the Guyana

Police Force published some information

that really is not much information, but

they publish. And in THAT REPORT, WHAT

IT said is that over 60 young people

below the age of 30

were arrested for committing crimes

within this country. AND IF THAT DOES

NOT SAY THAT we have to take a different

approach as it relates to what we are

doing WITH OUR NOW NOW UNDERSTAND ME

HONORABLE members I understand I

understand my honorable friend Mr. McCoy

may HAVE DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING, BUT

TRY AT LEAST TO TRY. AT LEAST TO TRY.

NOW, LET ME TELL YOU. LET me tell you,

honorable members, I will talk to y'all

over here. Y'all listen to me, too, cuz

I'm with y'all, but I just when I stand

up this way, I will see in a certain

face. So, let me tell you something,

honorable, Let me tell you something,

honorable members. We have got to do

better. when we have more of our young

men and women, we look at things like um

teenage pregnancy. We look at things

like school dropouts. I live in an area

where there's so I I've reported I've

called and let me uh there's been one

time that I did reach out to the

honorable member uh Vindia Pad and I

cannot lie she did um respond promptly

and I applaud her for that.

There was a young mother and her child

that came um in the wee hours of the

night with a situation and I don't know

what the minister doing up with that.

Oh, I was very happy that she was up but

she did what she had to do.

But these people even though those

specific situations may come under that

ministry, we still talking about young

people. And who is the minister that

covering youth?

This cannot be the way that we continue

to operate within this country.

sitting down right there

>> right but he he is not able to direct

because we have another person there who

wants to have his own way all the time

now if if I may um continue honorable

members because with all of this

destruction is so difficult to keep up

let me tell you what I have done

>> honorable member you may continue for

five minutes but conclude

>> what story is this thank you very much

Mr. speaker. Now, you know, when I look

at the when I look at the um budget,

honorable members, it it took me back to

the saying right now that a lot of

people are using. You know,

>> I wanted to ask the honorable Ramson,

how you deal with raster, sir. You don't

give we nothing. You don't do nothing

for our young people within this

country. And it is unfortunate. Now,

what I have put together is a list of

suggestions. Unfortunately, in the

interest of time, I may not be able to

go through all of them, but one, let me

go through a couple of them. One of the

things I I meant I listed here is to

teach Gy history, folklore, and so on

within our schools. And I do believe

that that is one of the things that our

ministry needs to ensure that they do to

look at local language, proverbs,

storytelling, and our heroes and so on

should be included in our education

system. I do believe that those things

help not only with with ensuring that

our culture is preserved but also to

help people to have some sense of

identity in terms of who we are as a

people. Um as well as grants should be

given for short films, films, sorry,

stage plays, documentaries, dancing, um

painters, writers and so forth. those

are people who are starving for help

within the industry as well as tax

incentives or breaks for artists who

produce local content uh within Guyana.

Uh most important and urgent of course

is putting together the the policy. I do

remember that the in 2016 AP and you had

this guy who was supposed to create the

policy um and the policy is well there's

no policy and then the PPP took that

same guy to create the policy and here

we are in 2026 with no policy. Um so we

definitely need to look to having those

things um in place. uh as well as it

relates to sports to look at giving um

incentives giving incentives to our

coaches to ensure that across this

country be it Burbese Bartika Esquibbo

uh Letham wherever it is that sporting

um coaches are are trained and are

placed within those communities. Um

Georgetown our region 4 is not Guyana.

Guyana extends to an an additional nine

regions. Nine regions and that needs to

be represented and replicated

everywhere. Um, additionally the coaches

Oh, do something for the coaches now. Oh

child's thank you. Um, so additionally,

um, I'm trying to ensure that I have

everything as it relates to, um,

statistics and the data and so on. I

think it's important that we get those

things out there as well so that we can

understand how to fix the problem. We

cannot fix a problem that we do not know

how much of it exists, where it exists

and so forth. So those sorts of

analytical data is very very important.

I'm really trying to rush through all

that I have to say. But more importantly

um as a gy and as a citizen of this

country two more minutes as a gy as a

citizen of this country I think that it

is the onus of us as representatives of

the people regardless of how many people

voted for us or did not vote for us love

us or support us. If we are seated here

within this house, it is because the

people have a certain degree of

confidence in us and that confidence

must be represented in what we give to

our people.

We cannot you know it is sad that in

very many ways people say oh this

politics or this is how politicians

stay. I do not appreciate that for one

second. How politicians should stay is

in the way that caters to love for

country and love for people. In

concluding,

I would like to leave I would like to

leave a little something that I picked

up along the way. So to conclude, I will

leave some of my thoughts as well as

some of the thoughts as um from our

honorable member Charles Ramson.

as it relates to this budget and how it

looks and how it represents the people

and whether or not the budget of 2026 is

for the people and that is when failures

come they come in batty lions. Thank you

members of the

>> Thank you very very much honorable

member Miss Odessa

Primus.

Before

I invite the honorable minister culture,

youth and sport, I just want to

recognize

three special young people. uh Miss Ara

Aria Murley,

Miss

Javevel Atalie

and Master Obama Prosper.

Uh just stand. Let us acknowledge you

please.

two of two of those young people I know

all of their lives and young Obama

uh his grandmother and I are grow match

and he's born in the same street I was

born with me at James and Hawk Street

all by thank you very much

honorable minister of culture youth and

sport

honorable Charles Ramson

of the mountain.

>> Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker,

>> after listening to the honorable member,

Miss

>> Odessa Primus,

I heard this morning that the leader of

the opposition

had some migraines.

Having listened to Miss Odessa's

presentation

and her being the general secretary that

he is faced with,

>> I can understand why he is getting

migraines.

>> Mr. Speaker, as a threetime MP,

as a two-time minister, as a two-time

cabinet member,

>> I am very pleased and it's a privilege

to support the largest budget in this

country's history.

And I also want to take the opportunity

to congratulate

>> the honorable minister Ashni Singh

>> and his team at the ministry of finance,

his excellency president Ali

and the vice president for crafting this

budget and for all of the successes that

we've had because this is not an

ordinary budget, Mr. Speaker. This is a

budget that comes immediately after our

first successful five years in

government.

And after that first five years, we saw

the decimation of the opposition at the

end of that election.

And the politics and the and our

economics are the same. They are

connected.

>> It is very important that when we come

and present

>> our budget to this country,

>> it is how this budget is framed and how

it is connected to people.

>> The true test will always come when the

people have their say. And what did they

say on September 1st? They said quite

clearly

that

instead of having a one seat majority

that we had in 2020, we now have a 7

seat majority.

>> The 242,000

votes that we obtained, our nearest

competitor had 109,000

votes.

That's 130,000 plus votes difference.

>> We won eight out of 10 regions and we

won region 4 for the first time.

I want to place that on record and I

want to thank all of the people across

this country who supported us. We are

grateful for your support all of you

everywhere.

And on the other hand, we have APNU who

moved from 31 seats to 12.

We they moved from 217,000

votes to 77,000 votes

>> and they were just in government 5 years

ago and now they're not even the largest

party in opposition.

And we faced all of this criticism for 5

years. I've heard for 5 years they would

come and criticize this People's

Progressive Party government budget.

Every single time that they would make

this presentation

and now the truth has been revealed.

What do people think? People reendors

this People's Progressive Party

government. his excellency president Ali

for a second term and a wider margin

and I want and I don't really care what

the honorable members people like to

miss Odessa

the honorable members Jerretta Shirrod

and Natasha St. Lewis, a number of them,

I don't really care what they have to

say because they've held more parties

than hits and jams.

>> And I hate to break this to you, but you

chasing you changing your parties

changing your parties will do bring no

benefit to who you are or what you bring

to your party. It will re result in the

same thing because all of your efforts

resulting in the shrinking of the PNC.

Can you imagine today that the PNC is

not even allowed by wind more than 15

minutes to speak here? Not even allowed

a a shadow ministry.

>> They don't even GET TO SPEAK ON THE

FINAL DAY.

>> That is what has transpired here. And

our governance in the last 5 years has

changed this country in a way that will

change it forever. We have now been

campaigning in areas that hit a two. We

were unable to do that.

>> We are now comfortable in every single

community because we worked in every

single community for the last 5 years.

every single day, every single month,

every single year. So that EVEN WHEN WE

WERE CAMPAIGNING, they asked for our

shirts, they asked for our flags, they

put it up, and they voted for us.

>> Now, and I want you to know when I said

to this house, go back to the answer. I

said we would beat them by at least

three seats. We did that. And I'm going

to say it now. We are GOING TO BEAT YOU

AT THE NEXT election at a with a larger

margin.

>> That's right. That's right.

>> AND I'M VERY happy that the AFC is no

longer part of this parliament. I'm very

happy not to see sticky fingers over

there. Miss video mega who used to show

me middle finger in this parliament and

hold up signs. I am very happy AND ALL

OF YOU CONTRIBUTED TO THE DECLINE OF the

AFC, the same person who is talking

right now.

>> The only person who I will miss and I

just want you to know I'll miss

>> Annette.

>> I miss Annette.

>> Just let you know if you're watching. I

know you're watching.

And from the wind side, I want you to

also know this has been a very

disappointing and not disappointing

because I didn't expect better, but it's

been a an abysmal performance. This has

been an abysmal performance. Incoherent

arguments, struggling to read their

scripts, no economic analysis, no

costbenefit analysis, no policy debate,

nothing. No understanding of THE

NUMBERS. JUST A BUNCH OF NON- ENTITIES.

A bunch of non- entities. People that we

don't even know their names.

And what it has proven is that you are

not even ready for opposition. You are

not shadows. You are shallows.

AND THE FACT THAT TWO DAYS BEFORE this

budget you have to go and put up a

picture with Christopher Ram or I

shouldn't even call the name but with

that person showing that you are

preparing for the budget seeing the

budget for the first time. It is an

embarrassment. You are embarrassing

yourselves and you need to stop it.

>> And who are they taking advice from? a

bunch of PPP haters and dead weights,

people who have never won an election

before. And if you choose a comedian as

your general secretary, nobody will ever

take you seriously.

>> AND I WANT YOU TO KNOW SOMETHING AS

WELL.

NOT BECAUSE

>> not because you have been a comedian, it

makes you an expert in culture.

>> And for all of the people who came over

to the wind party, just just so that you

know, if you can be bought by someone,

you can be bought

>> by anyone.

You have no loyalty to the Muhammads.

You have no loyalty to the wind. The

wind is not built on a foundation. You

as soon as he disappears, you will

disappear too. YOU ARE LOYAL TO HIS

POCKET.

>> I want you to know we ON THIS SIDE OF

THE HOUSE, WE CAN'T BE BOUGHT. I

CERTAINLY CAN'T.

>> MR. SPEAKER,

>> MR. SPEAKER,

>> go ahead. The honorable member,

>> I'm standing up on 41

six.

>> Mr. Speaker, the member is there

imputing improper motive to the entire

win team and I would ask that he takes

that that you take that statement off of

the record. Mr. Honorable member, I

can't uphold that point of order because

on all sides we've been talking about

the name of the political parties and

that has been allowed.

The second point there would have been

the surname or the first name that he

used and with the use of great bishop

uh great bishop nor name of s or flues

doesn't directly speak to any honorable

member. Go ahead, honorable minister.

>> Yet another display of incompetence and

unfamiliarity with the rules.

Unfamiliarity with the rules. I said

this when we came here and I took our we

took our oath. I said they are going to

hold us to account. People who have

never had any experience in government

or don't know a clue of what they're

going to talk about, they can hold a

government to account. Get give me a

break.

>> Non- entities and nonachievers.

it. We have not even heard from anyone

on the other side that we are going to

have to spend less money from oil in

this economy this year.

>> No one from their side has mentioned

that and it's very important when we're

talking about the development of a

country.

>> We know that we found oil here in this

country in 2015. We develop we started

to produce in 2019

2020 we started to spend oil money in

this economy 2022 2023

countries that have done well have had

the maturity from an opposition so that

you can have sensible discussions about

how you plan for the future. You cannot

have a sensible discussion with this

group.

>> None whatsoever. They haven't even

mentioned that. All they're talking

about is how you can spend more oil

money, but at the same time they want us

to hold back spending on infrastructure.

How is the country going to develop?

>> How is the country going to develop? You

have to make a decision. Do we want to

develop the country or not? Do we want

to live in a developed country or not?

How are you going to make the

investment? And that lower oil revenue

is just an example of what can come in

the future because the fact is is that

commodity prices are cyclical in nature.

All oil economies have been a affected

they have been affected when they have

had lower oil prices. And I want to just

point to the fact that the way that we

have been managing it is that where we

spend on the capital expenditure, it

means that we have the ability to lower

that lever. Lower that lever if we need

to so we can scale it up back during the

good days. But the fact is

the fact is is that last year we earned

about 2 billion. The previous year we

earned about two billion. That is not a

lot of money. That is not a lot of

money. We are nowhere near where we need

to be. Our factors and the fundamentals

of our economic growth is not there yet.

We have to keep building. We have to

keep investing because we have to build

a sustainable and resilient economy.

Resilient.

THAT IS WHY READ THE SPEECH. Read the

speech that Minister Ashne

wrote and presented and listen to the

president speak. Listen to the vice

president speak. They speak about

building a sustainable but resilient

economy.

>> The fundamentals.

We have to keep investing in our energy.

>> What are they talking about in relation

to that? We don't have enough. You think

300 megawatt on our for the gas to power

project is enough to build a resilient

economy. It's not. You have TO GET MORE

POWER. YOU think on the connectivity,

THE BRIDGES, all of the the the factors

of productivity, the opening up of land

and highways. You think we have all of

what we need right now? We don't.

>> The honorable member Sharma Solomon and

the the group on that side is saying we

are say we shouldn't be spending so much

on infrastructure, but yet he's calling

for a bridge over the de over the

Barbies River. It means that you need to

spend more money on the infrastructure.

So CN Sharma relax

>> and and the point is the main point is

>> I want you to understand something on

the extreme case is a country called

Hold on hold on there is a country

called Nau in in the Pacific Ocean

listen there's a country called Nau

in the Pacific Ocean. The country was

the richest country in the 1970s

because they found phosphate and listen

the man. Listen, let me finish the man.

And then this was the richest country

and they went down the road. I'm going

to use the extreme situation so you

understand what are the risks and the

perils we face if we do not make the

right decisions.

>> They were the richest country in the

1970s.

Had a higher GDP per capita than the

United States of America in the 1970s.

They used to walk around with money in

pillow cases on their back.

And today they are one of the poorest

countries in the western in the world.

Why? Because they did not use their

bounty for their investment. They have

to take the revenue. GOD GOD BLESSED US.

GOD blessed us. We have to take the

revenue and we use it towards

investment. And the resilient investment

is our human capital. Yes, read the book

The BIRTH OF PLENTY and also read the

book A Splendid Exchange. Both written

by William Bernstein. You will

understand. I know you don't read. I

know you don't over there don't read.

Readers are leaders.

>> Read it and you will understand why it

is.

>> You know I don't read.

>> Sorry, Mr. Speaker. On the opposition

side,

>> you're speaking to me.

On the opposition side,

readers are leaders. You have to

understand why we have to make this

investment. Now, you think we don't want

to be a popular government and just

distribute everything. We're already

distributing a whole lot, but we have to

balance our investment with our

distribution. That's why all of our

grants have increased, but that's why we

have to continue to invest. Now, Mr.

Speaker, I want to turn now to our over

the last 5 years how we have done at the

Ministry of Culture, youth and sport

because what is important

>> the same criticism that we had from Miss

Odessa Primos, SHE DESPITE THE FACT that

the APNU AFC removed the Ministry of

Culture, youth and sport, they disbanded

it. She was a supporter of the APNU.

>> Yes, she was.

>> She was a supporter. You didn't love

young people then.

>> You didn't love their voices then.

>> You never said anything about that.

That's right, Vic.

When we

>> I want everybody to understand when we

restored this ministry, it was because

we knew at the level of the People's

Progressive Party, we knew how important

this ministry was then and that it is

now. It must have a say at the level of

the cabinet. And because of that too, I

want to welcome Steven.

I WANT TO ALSO WELCOME JAMES and I also

want to acknowledge the hard work

another MP the DIRECTOR OF YOUTH. I WILL

TAKE a a sur sing OVER ALL OF Y'ALL

COMBINED ON MY team

all of y'all combined.

We undertook the responsibility of of

building five stadiums and those are

huge undertakings IN FACT AND ALL OF

THOSE stadiums will be open this year

and I want to be clear the first one is

happening on Saturday. It is going to be

a huge event and it's beautiful. It is a

really really beautiful facility.

THERE ARE VERY FEW COUNTRIES IN BAYROCK

IN LYNDON in Bayrock in Lyndon after

they lied to the people. Sharma Solomon,

honorable member and all of the other

PNC PEOPLE. THEY LIED to the people in

Lynen or they told falsehood. You you

reminded us this is the start of your

second term as a minister and you were

here before.

>> I would I withdraw the word. I I

withdraw the word lie and I say to you

they misinformed they misinformed to say

that that

>> this the track would be finished in 2018

or 2019 or 2020 and they never even

purchased the synthetic material.

TAKE THAT TO YOUR BANK ANY BANKET

AND YOU ARE WERE THE MAYOR. YOU WERE THE

MAYOR. YOU ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR WIND

COMING AND TAKE OVER LYNEN.

>> YOU WEREN'T A MAYOR. YOU WERE NOT A M A

Y O R. You were a M A R E. You got no

>> AND I WILL TELL YOU

>> THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT I will tell you

too IS THAT THESE STADIUMS, FOUR OF

THESE STADIUMS, four of these stadiums

will cost LESS THAN THE COST OF THE

DORBAN PARK PROJECT.

AND MOST IMPORTANT, $600 MILLION THAT

WAS UNACCOUNTED FOR, that is not

happening in our ministry.

IN THE LAST 5 YEARS, WE INVESTED IN OVER

600 community grounds across this

country.

>> And I WANT TO TELL THE YOUNG MAN FROM

from region one, I'm not going to call

his name. He's a young man. And quite

frankly, he hasn't earned that privilege

as yet.

>> You say you WANT TO GET RICH. YOU also

said that that you want you're worried

about young people and being led the

wrong way. He doesn't even KNOW THAT YOU

ARE ALREADY being led the wrong way.

YOU'RE FOLLOWING A MAN

>> WHO IS SANCTIONED AT THE highest level

who is an who is now a fugitive offender

who was committed almost every possible

wrong. You're following that man and you

worried about young people being led

astray.

AND WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT BEING RICH, IT

IS FOR THAT REASON THAT the People's

Progressive Party has the development of

a the the DEVELOPMENT BANK IN OUR OUR

MANIFESTO.

THAT'S WHY IN FACT WE DON'T EVEN WANT

only for people to be rich. We want

people gy people to be wealthy. And

there's a difference. Wealthy is

permanent richness. Richness that you

could pass on to YOUR CHILDREN. THAT'S

WHY WE DISTRIBUTED OVER 50,000 house

lots in the last 5 years and we will

build over 40,000 homes. WE WANT PEOPLE

TO PASS ON THEIR WEALTH to their

children

and this year we will spend another 1.2

billion in on community grounds. Last

year, well, over the last 5 years, we

lit we lit

145 grounds in this country.

They set us a target of 25. We did

145 grounds.

>> WE STARTED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THIS

COUNTRY. We started for the first time

in this country a national sports

academy categorized into core and

non-core sports. WE BUILT STRONG

RELATIONSHIPS with sports associations

and all of the sports associations have

issued their support for us, this

ministry, THE BUDGET BECAUSE THEY KNOW

HOW they have benefited.

>> Importantly as well, we started tracking

and measuring how many medals our

athletes started to secure. THEY HAVE

NEVER BEEN TRACKED BEFORE. In the last

three years alone, we have secured over

1,000

international and regional medals by our

athletes.

THAT IS THE HISTORY. ATHLETES ARE DOING

BETTER NOW THAN THEY HAVE EVER DONE

BEFORE under the People's Progressive

Party leadership.

WE MODERNIZED THE SPORTS HALL. IN 2024,

I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW THIS. In 2024,

WE HELD 29 international sporting events

in this country and last year it was 33.

They don't even understand how difficult

that is. And I want to thank all of the

members from the ministry who are here.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

>> TO DO 33 INTERNATIONAL sporting events

in a country that is more than one every

other week. More than one every other

week that is driving tourism into our

country. DEVELOPMENT OF ATHLETES,

DEVELOPMENT OF TALENT SO THAT THEY CAN

GET EXPOSURE TO HIGHER LEVELS of

competition, better levels of coaching.

We obtained in the last five years as

well. Oh, importantly as well teams

departed in 2023.

We started measuring it 2023

36 times. In 2004

they left these shores 73 times. In

2005,

2025, sorry, 2025, it wasund

and two times sporting teams left this

country. WE'VE SPENT OVER A BILLION

DOLLARS on sports associations and teams

leaving this country in the last 5

years. over a billion dollars.

>> WE OBTAINED FOR THE FIRST TIME SOMETHING

we wanted the CPL finals and semifinals.

>> AND WE ALSO WON, BY THE WAY, WE OBTAINED

THAT at no cost to the Treasury.

>> No cost to the Treasury.

How about that? WE ALSO WON THE CPL FOR

THE FIRST TIME.

>> OUR CRICKETERS, OUR cricketers are now

being scouted and playing in

international franchise leagues, paying

getting paid more money than they've

ever done before. We're talking about

athletes and coaches. AND I WILL TELL

YOU ONE OF THEM. If it wasn't for the

fact that Shamar Joseph didn't play in

that CPL where we had identified his

talent,

>> he would not have made it to the West

Indies team and then also become the MVP

for that tournament when West Indies

beat Australia.

West Indies.

>> We also hosted two World Cups. two

cricket world cups and in the last one

we were judged the best host most

organized.

>> We held the CAC bodybuilding

championship in over a decade and we

issued for the first time with the

international body pro cards right here.

right here. And also the first one that

was issued here was won by a Gionese.

>> And since then, seven pro cards have

been issued. And we now have a world

champion in Rosanna Funk.

>> SOMEONE WHO WE IDENTIFIED early and

invested in and supported so that she

can become the world champion.

>> Lovely. Lovely. Now,

>> because of our bilateral relationships

with our ambassadors and other

countries, we were able to get our elite

program going. Including last year, we

had

Olympic gold medal winner, Olympic gold

medal winner, Felix Sanchez, come and

coach our athletes here.

Hall of Famer came to this country. We

never even thought that could happen.

Hakeim Elijah won and we did that again.

No cost to the ministry, no cost to the

government. Our football team is now or

was in the LEAGUE A FOR CONQUER CALF. It

was in League A for the Conquer Calf,

which was the first time ever, the

highest level that we've ever been. We

talking about it. We've had 15,000

participants in the learn to swim

program, including persons with

disabilities. 15,000 persons. And I want

to commend Steve and all the team from

the National Sports Commission.

WE CONSTRUCTED FOR THE FIRST time and is

now the best doubles court in the entire

region for squash.

We got elected at the UN for in in Paris

for the UNESCO fund for the elimination

of sport elimination of doping in sport.

We held sports conferences for the first

time and just last year we had our first

black tide gala for our sports sports

awards.

We introduced re reintroduced the Guyana

games, the Interg Guyana Games, which

the APN new AFC killed. They killed it.

>> We passed two pieces of legislation

including the much desired Horse Racing

Authority Act. We completed the draft

for the sports policy and it will be

approved by cabinet this year. That's

right.

>> We obtained approval and held the

Guyana's global the global super league.

The global super league which was

something that totally organic to us and

is now a successful tournament.

We distributed more gears in this

country's history. We have done more

distribution of sports gears than we

have ever had in this country's history.

Yes, we can. People will always want

more and it's important for us to do

more.

>> Minister, the distribution of time says

you'll need 5 minutes to conclude. So,

you have that.

>> There is a lot more that I could speak

about for sport, but I also want to

speak about culture because the

honorable member spoke about some

things, but I also need to speak about

some of the work that we've been doing.

The Guyana Prize for Literature after a

new AFC abandon it, stop funding it.

Same group of people that the honorable

member cares so much said nothing for 5

years when APNA was in power. We

restored it, Mr. Speaker.

>> And we added new categories. Now it's

being held annually. We added a youth

category and a non-fiction category. We

also turned that into a a lit literature

festival, a buildout of an entire

festival. That is what we are doing for

culture. We sat with the drama folks.

She spoke about the drama festival in

2023 up until 10:00 at night. We sat

with the drama folks and we work with

them on the right to stage initiative

where the government funds their drama

plays

>> and out of that we choose

it. Those plays come from the Guyana

Prize for Literature and we fund that

and all of the revenue is kept for them.

>> Since then we've held nine successful

critically acclaimed plays

the same that we left with that Dr.

Frank started honorable member when he

left in 2014 they did nothing to get

that the institute of created art

creative arts accredited they did

nothing in fact the honorable member

Natasha St. Lewis said it couldn't BE

DONE. IT COULDN'T be done right here in

this parliament. We got that registered

with the National Accredititation

Council.

We took our independence flag raising

ceremony all across this country for the

first time. We did it in region 2,

region 9, region 10, region 6 and it was

a huge success. APNU criticized it. We

did the mo and our cultural performances

are now totally fantastic. It is

modernized. It is refreshing. And I

would like to thank our department of

culture for all of the work that they

have done. And I also want to thank

Andrew Tindle and the team there and

Alana Sberan

who has worked on this

to unlock new talent. We did the Guyana

talent search and then we also had at

Carifesta and the World Expo in Dubai

and Japan. We had the best performances

there. We had the best performances

there. Persons who are involved in our

programs are doing better now than they

have ever done before. They are earning

a good living. They're buying homes.

They're buying cars or doing

renovations. All of that is happening

now. We did also we started the youth

culture camps where over a thousand

young people have already been trained

and I want to assure the honorable

member D Mr. black pudding

that the ipadi first of all that the it

was the people's progressive party that

voted to support the international

decade of people of African descent in

2013.

It was also the People's Progressive

Party that voted to extend the decade

for the people of African descent.

And we have also extended our support.

We have also extended our support where

the 100 million will remain in our

budget for the people of African descent

and hundreds of groups have already

obtained funding, direct funding. He

didn't have a problem when just a few

persons from iPad were getting it. 60%

of it was eaten up in administrative

costs and they only used to get between

60 to 100,000. Now they get those groups

get $2.2 million.

It was our IT IS OUR PRESIDENT WHO IS

leading the charge for reparations in

this country.

>> Remind me what did former President

David Granger do for reparations?

It was President Ali that has led the

charge and is doing IT GLOBALLY. BUT YOU

DON'T LIKE IT because he comes from the

People's Progressive Party.

>> We have used our bilateral relations to

extend our cultural programs in our

cultural and in and creative industries

grant. Hundreds of young people,

hundreds of young people have received

funding from our cultural and creative

industries grant for which $120 million

was distributed.

We completed WE COMPLETED THE

MODERNIZATION OF the National Trust Act

and I had the pleasure of speaking with

the attorney general who has said that

it will be ready for passage this term.

We did we did 40 meetings of hard work

to build internally that build that

bill. We did that. That bill is now

ready. That is what will help us with

the preservation of our culture and our

heritage.

>> Honorable minister, you will have to

wind up.

>> Mr. Speaker,

for young people in this country too, I

want to congratulate our youth

department. In the last 5 years, we have

trained from PA P Y A RG that APNU

killed over 15,000 young people trained

in that program.

From our robotics and coding, we train

close to 8,500

young people. That is how we are making

a difference in young people's lives. In

our vax program, we have engaged over a

100,000 young people because we are

focused on communityoriented work. Over

a 100,000 in the last 5 years. My

conscience is clear in relation to the

development that our ministry and this

government is driving towards the area

of culture, youth and sport because it

is multis sectoral.

It is a great privilege and a great

pleasure. I can speak for a long time ad

nauseium about all of the tremendous

work that we have been doing in the last

5 years. But you will have another long

5 years when we remain in this

government and a long 30 years after

that because we will continue to work

with all of the people in this country

to bring development and to make this

country one of the most prosperous

countries in the world and for all gy to

benefit. Thank you very much Mr.

Speaker.

Thank you very much honorable minister

Ramson.

And let us now take the honorable

minister

Vic

Ram soon.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

>> Mr. Speaker,

now sir, the honor is now mine to make

my contributions on this ongoing budget

debate for the fiscal year 2026 under

the theme putting people first.

Sir, before I substantively argue in

favor of this budget, I wish to first of

all thank our most distinguished

and our most veteran colleague, the

honorable Dr. Ashni Kumar Singh, senior

minister with responsibilities of

finance in the office of the president

for continuously making us proud with

your team, your staff members from the

ministry of finance and of course all

the other members of the public service.

Mr. Speaker, this $1.558

trillion budget, the sole objective of

these allocations is to improve the

lives of every Gyian citizen.

>> Mr. Speaker,

as one of the geographic members of

parliament from region number three

representing the people of region three

from the people's progressive party

civic, I along with all my other

colleagues in this side of the house and

by extension the gy people would first

of all like to thank Dr. Bar Jagu our

general secretary of the people's

progressive party civic for his dynamic

for his impactful leadership which has

significantly sir shaped this very great

nation of ours for decades

Mr. Speaker,

every

policy eluciated in this budget

is aimed sir

for the people because at the center of

every initiative that the people's

progressive party civic is involved in

it lies the people of this country.

Mr. Speaker,

as a resident of Region Tree, like

myself, many almost all if not every GY

citizen

knows the difficulties

that we had encountered with the old

Dearara River Bridge. Because for hours,

sometimes because of lack of proper

infrastructure, we spent hours in

traffic difficulties we had. And this

government led by the people's

progressive party civic constructed

the new Demorara Harbor Bridge name the

Barat Jacu Deirara River bridge sir

because Mr. Speaker for us the people of

this country's first and more

importantly sir

all the bridges

are tollfree

because

Everything that this government does

lies the people of this country. Sir,

these budgetary allocations are not just

numbers that are affixed to programs.

But these programs, Mr. Speaker, they

were all done in such a way because we

have a commitment to the people of this

country. The people of this country sir

voted for the people's progressive party

civic continuously because the people of

this nation trust the people's

progressive party civic. Trust is not

something that is built just like that

because the numbers we see the

configuration of this national assembly

sir speaks to the trust of the people

and the people of this country sir

continuously demonstrates that they

trust the leadership and the people's

progressive party civic

>> sir so this

>> victory that we had this landslide

victory that we had in the 2025 1st of

September September general and region

election sir is no accident.

It is because in 2020 we committed to

the people of this country. We delivered

to the people of this country sir and

again sir based on that we went back to

the people and the people delivered for

us because we have delivered for the

people.

Sir, it is important for us to

understand and the people of this

country to know the difference between

the political parties that we have

representing them in this national

assembly.

Let me first start Mr. Speaker a couple

of days the honorable member

Vishnu Pande

made a quote in this national assembly

sir and he tried to use the Hindu

religion Mr. speaker to make a political

point but it was larger than that but

when he quote Mr. Speaker I want to

turn to the quote exact quote that he

made sir and in that quote he said from

the hands hard he said sir

Mr. McCoy and he said I will explain to

you Mr. McCoy, you went to my man there,

but you did not learn anything. You went

there and you ate 27 curry, but you yet

did not learn nothing because your head

hard.

Mr. Speaker,

after I'm finished today, the people of

this country will know whose head is

hard.

>> Because I'll tell you why.

>> I'll tell you why.

Mr. Speaker,

>> Mr. Speaker,

I have in my hands here

Tulsias's Ram Chit Manas,

>> edited and translated into Hindi and

English by RC Prasad, professor at

Patner University.

>> Mr. speaker and this was published by

one of the best sellers

>> on Indian civilization

Motilal Banara's publication one of the

largest best publication on any of these

text

>> and I'll quote what he said sir

he said sir that is Hindi he's speaking

but sir he did not speak Hindi because

this very text is translated in Hindi.

He spoke there sir Aadhi.

He doesn't even know the language he

spoke

sir

sir

and here here it's written here sir

and he even said it wrong.

He said

the text didn't say

the text says

They ARE MISREPRESENTING IN THIS

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY EVEN A HOLY text

>> honorable member

>> Mr. Speaker

>> don't impute

>> I not every one of us could make a

mistake

>> Mr. Speaker with all respect to you sir

I am stating the facts from the text

>> and I may saying that he misrepresented

and misrepresenting sir in legal parlace

there is are consequences

>> in misre

speaker of course

>> in the house

>> all right sir I

>> I'm so guided

>> I determine

>> I'm so guided sir

>> okay

this is hindi sir

Next one

>> that was ai which was wrongly quoted in

this house

right

>> and now I'm giving him the Hindi

that is Hindi

And what it means

the greatest blessing is to do good for

others. And it didn't even mean what he

said. He said something different. He

gave a different meaning. He spoke the

wrong language. He said and then again

sir that is Hindi. Mr. Speaker, Mr.

Speaker, sir, you hold up. I got talk

with you just now. Mr. Speaker, Mr.

Speaker,

Mr. Speaker, sir, I will speak another

language for him

and that is Sanskrit.

He said,

Mr. Speaker, I'll explain it.

>> You know what it says? That in the eyes

of God, we are all one. And that is the

tradition I follow. So all that you see

you bring here and you talk about racism

and this and that what we are told and

learn in the PPP is that every person is

the same in the eyes of God and in the

eyes of all of us. So when you come here

to speak language

>> that is coded m sir that they speak

language that is coded to divide Mr.

Speaker we are guided on that principle.

But before I close on this question sir,

>> I have one thing more to say and permit

me sir. Permit me sir because he said I

don't know a word of Hindi. I'm

responding to him.

>> The honorable member

>> and I'm saying here permit me sir to say

it in Hindi.

Vishnu

debate.

I'll explain it now. I'll explain it

now. You hold you hold up.

>> What I will say, sir, is that I'm

challenging the honorable gentleman to

come on any television he wants, any

place he wishes and to have a debate in

Hindi language with me without not

looking at a paper and if he so do so,

he eats salts

>> from the party he comes from.

But you know what that represents sir? A

larger question

>> that is before all of us here

>> because in my estimation Mr. Speaker

every other thing he said who in this

earth will believe him and if Mr.

Speaker if for 40 odd years he's

learning this and he can't get it right

well went one day. So you determine who

head really hard.

>> DETERMINE WHO HEAD REALLY HARD.

>> So every other question that you raise

sir on Gau we will answer it. But Mr.

Speaker but Mr. Speaker, that speaks to

this political party here.

>> Yes.

>> Because sir,

>> there's a report here

>> and the chronological sequence of your

party must be understood.

>> Read it. Read it.

>> And this here is a riers report.

>> The riers report sir, is dated 14th of

July 2023.

The contents of this report, sir, the

standing orders will not permit me to

say it

because

it deals with serious issues of law.

Again, Mr. Speaker,

the the Department of Justice

now come

the US Department of Justice, Mr.

speaker after issuing their sanctions,

>> Mr. Speaker, it is after that OPAC

sanction that something called win

developed.

>> Before that, THERE WAS NO POLITICAL

party sir

>> and therefore the goal got a lot of

scholarship.

I challenge them over there

>> and every other member in this team here

are fully qualified.

Fully qualified

>> in whichever field we are. Hold up the

man.

>> Hold up. We are fully qualified. I WANT

YOU TO LIST TO THIS COUNTRY.

Show to this nation

>> the qualifications

of your honorable leader.

And if you can't present it, u

freewamiwami

not the leader of the opposition butwami

can present at any time, Mr. Speaker.

>> But you know what? Whatever is his

qualification, he do not misinform the

people of this nation.

He does not misrepresent who he is. And

that is the key to all of this.

>> Mr. Speaker,

I hear

a lot of things being talked about Gau

to watch my time.

>> I heard a lot of things being talked

about Gauind,

Mr. Speaker, the sugar workers of this

nation.

Many of us don't know the contributions

that the sugar workers made to this

nation. And I want to remind some of you

who tend to forget,

>> Mr. Speaker, in this budget,

>> 13.4

billion dollars is allocated to Gau.

>> Yeah, Mr. speaker.

>> So $13.4 billion

allocated to Gauo

and here what Gau sugar cane worker they

are blood suckers sugarce workers gau is

a dark hole

>> black hole all sorts of things we say

Mr. Speaker,

>> the sugar workers,

>> the sugar workers for centuries, even

before this nation was independent,

>> they retaliated,

>> they retaliated,

they fought they struggled

>> for this nation. They they they they

fought against the planttocracy.

>> YES.

ALL OUR forbearance

>> toiled for this nation

>> including David

>> including everybody for parents

>> and sir it is respect honor and dignity

all that we are asking for them to live

with.

>> Yes

>> sir hold on I tell you

>> Mr. Speaker

Mr. Speaker

>> Mr. Speaker,

when in 1974,

in 1974, because some of you there like

to speak on history, the sugar levy was

imposed on the sugar industry. And at

that time the PNC le administration

scooped $475

million US away from that industry

to build this nation. We didn't have a

problem then.

We didn't have a problem then. And sir,

I tell you again,

in 1979,

our national budget was 627 million,

$77,000.

>> And the foreign currency alone,

earnings of Gau was $226

million. Sir,

>> Mr. Speaker, in 1991, the figure

continues, sir. And here here again and

listen well because you need to know

>> all of you know

>> in 1979 1977 sir our national budget was

$424 million $917

the sugar levy

>> the sugar levby

>> the sugar levy sir was 77 million listen

I don't nothing. Listen,

>> it's $777,500,000,

sir. $18.2%

of the budget of that year was funded by

the sugar levy. The sugar workers, it

never went back to build the estates.

Bill Guko, it went to build this nation.

Sir,

>> that is correct.

>> Went to build this nation.

>> Again, sir, listen. You listen. In 1979

learn today 1979

600 this is guys super report and

parliament reports or fight with them

>> 627

million

700 bill come to scale hot get pressure

>> 77,115

sir the sugar levy of that year was

15.5%

placed by from that for the national

budget And it goes on sir in 1989 it was

14.6% 6% sir

>> again hold on

>> again sir in 1991

4 billion264

million sir 25.5%

of the budget was from the sugar

industry the sugar levy alone and forget

sir forget sir

>> forget sir hold we not yet

>> Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker

Mr. Speaker,

>> today sir,

>> in 2026,

>> Mr. Speaker,

>> the total there's something in finance

called Mr. Speaker, future value, time

value for money.

>> You want to hear the time value for

money? How much money the sugar industry

contributed from the sugar alone to this

country, sir? to this country sir is

over 310

billion G dollars sir and today today

sir today sir from the 1.558

trillion 13.4 4 billions which is 85 of

the budget sessha.

Yhala

yala I'm on the floor you know I'm on

the floor right good but yes sir and so

Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker Mr. speaker

that alone

that alone sir that alone says the story

and today the allocation of less than a

percent of the budget sir is going to

Gau and you hear all these noises but

when the sugar workers toils to build

this nation many of you don't know that

>> sir Mr. Speaker again

Mr. Speak again. The honorable gentleman

might remember the first industry

to bring portable water to this nation

is Gau. In the 1950s are over 12,000

homes. It was historic and

groundbreaking in this nation here where

almost 12,000 persons homes were given

water free water. Mr. Speaker, the

recreational facilities, the pensioners,

everything, drainage and irrigation,

recreational facilities, health centers,

everything, sir. And the largest

contributor to the national insurance

scheme is Gau

and to date even.

>> I'm not, Mr. Speaker, for a moment for

not for a moment saying, sir, that

estates and industry should not be

viable. But I want to tell you

something.

>> Hold up.

>> You had preferential markets for over 50

years.

>> The preferential market existed for over

50 years. So what are you saying? Sir,

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker,

>> Mr. Speaker,

>> today sir,

>> the agriculture industry sir is seeing

that kind of progress and development

sir because we are not considering this

industry to be private business.

>> Mr. Speaker Rice is another industry sir

that carry this nation

>> that carry this nation sir

>> and you know sir today

we have the highest

>> production in the rice industry

only y'all there talking about people

the honorable Zulfikar Mustapa led the

rice sub sector to have the largest

production in the history of this

industry 810,299

metric tons and it don't happen by magic

y'all can sit there and be Facebook

warriors and social media politicians

but progress and prosperity does not

happen like that sir it happens through

strategic planning and executing and

hard work

>> Mr. Speaker,

>> your first crop of 2026 alone,

we have 223,35

acres right now soon.

>> It's there, sir.

>> And Mr. Speaker, our target is a million

metric ton by 20 2030. Sir,

>> our export

>> our export sir is 468,730

metric tons of rice. Our foreign

exchange earning alone for 2025 is 237

million US and all of you speak about

rice farmers.

We have worked with the farmers when you

here consider rice to be private

business.

private business. You went to the rice

farmers. You told them that you will do

so. You will do so. And you know what

you did?

>> But you know what, sir?

>> You know what?

>> You know what, sir?

>> When people are in the ICU, you pray for

them.

You pray that they be well because that

is part of what all of us do. Yes. Yes.

>> And so, sir, I will not waste any of my

time longer.

>> Thank you.

>> To speak on that which is in the ICU

because you know what, sir?

>> The people No, no, we by 2030 by 2030

the sugar workers the sugar workers will

stay on their jobs right there inu.

And sir, Mr. Speaker,

Mr. Mr. Speaker,

the rice farmers

when people campaign they know

themselves

they'd made a lot of promises and to the

people and when it's time they turned

their backs and they said it's private

business but sir in this country here

this is a democratic country and the

fact that is it is democratic you can

sit there as 16 members honorable

members

And your numbers there, your numerical

strength on that side of the house is

demonstrative that democracy is alive

and the people will continue. Don't

think the people out there, they don't

know what is going on. Sir,

you can make all the false allegations

you want, but the people on the ground,

they know for years who stand by them,

who continue to stand by them, and who

is there for them. an election.

>> The people know that, sir,

>> you can do what you want, but the

people, the gy people are smarter. And

that is why, Mr. Speaker, we are

continuously, we are continuously

working for the people because we want

to make the people smarter. We want to

make sure that the people understand

everybody. and the honorable minister

and the this government is investing

tremendously in the education sector.

>> That is why we are returning the cash

grant. That is why we are placing it now

to 85 and it will incrementally go based

on our manifesto. We are guided by that

and not for a moment will we ever move

from that.

And sir,

in the rice sector alone for 2025,

we have given in cash money,

fertilizers,

subsidies,

>> incentives

>> of the tune of 5 bill3180

million. Mr. Speaker, that is to put

money in the people's pocket and the

rice farmers know that tomorrow. Join me

in region three because we have

something that is called the crop

insurance

>> free

>> putting monies putting the people FIRST

>> BECAUSE THAT crop insurance

>> the crop insurance Mr. Speaker

>> is that which you know in 2021

when there was this flooding

$2 billion were given to the rice

farmers as subsidies.

And this government understands the risk

that our farmers take when they go to

the fields

to plant crops to feed this nation

and your government,

Mr. Speaker, the government of Guyana

led by the People's Progressive Party

Civic collaborated GRDB, the Costa Rica

company,

and the Morris Phillips International

Company. sir

>> joined together

>> joined together and created this

insurance product

to remove the level of uncertaintity

because of inclement weather condition

sir and that there in case of any losses

will compensate the farmers for whatever

losses they will face

sir This is not gaff.

>> Tomorrow

Dr. Barker you join me

and you will see for real

>> as a member of region three not tomorrow

sorry Saturday

>> Saturday

>> and you will see the real things that

are happening

how it changes and transforms the lives

of our ordinary people. This is no quack

show.

This is real people. This is not

cardboard people. This is real human

beings. We are transformed.

>> We'll have 5 minutes more to conclude.

>> Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

>> Mr. Speaker

again in the rice sector

in the rice sector sir

we have

>> we again sir

>> have done

say

>> yes sir

so the nano fertilizer

Again, it's a groundbreaking experience

because in rice cultivation,

it is a reduced input cost, increased

yields and soil health that is

important.

>> Right. And Mr. Speaker, Terry,

>> the energy and resource institute of

India partnered sir with

>> GRDB

at a rice resort station and Mr.

Speaker, after that our aronomists have

reported that with a nano ura

fertilizer,

we have increased yields and strong

environmental effects for the usage of

this liquid

nano ura fertilizer.

>> So instead of sir spending now $7,000 on

a bag of fertilizer for acre of land, we

can now achieve that with $2,500.

That Mr. Speaker speaks to innovation

speaks to the needs of our people and

that is what sir this People's

Progressive Party is about because this

will reduce

cost

and reduction in cost means more money

in the farmer's pocket.

Increased yields means more money is in

the farmer's pocket. But Mr. Speaker, we

are also not denying that there are

issues in the sector. We do not shy away

from that. We accept it because as you

know in this 2025 last year, we exported

42,000 more than 2024 and earned 17

million less. It means sir in the

international market the price is down

because of an excessive supply.

And so we have sir a responsibility to

continuously work with the farmer. And

sir you will notice

that

we will work we continuously work with

the farmers to ensure that the cost of

production is done. There's more market

in Mexico and Europe so that our farmers

can be more profitable.

Mr. Speaker, one last point I would like

to make in the other crop sectors.

Nari Terry again in collaboration

with Nari

couple months ago I think it's in

October

we commissioned a brand new tissue

culture lab

and Mr. speaker where plants we were we

were able to to have 13,000 plantlets

being done now 1 million plantlets can

go Mr. Speaker to the nursery and then

to the farmers

disease-free

and which will also help to increase the

output of the farmers.

We have constructed 757

shade houses across this country from

2021 to 2025.

And make no bones about it, we want to

make this sector sustainable. We want to

make this sector resilient, climate

resilient, and more importantly reach to

ensure that our nation is a food secure

nation. There are more. There's so many

things we can talk, but Mr. Speaker, I

want to thank the people of this country

for once again electing Dr. Muhammad

Ernali

as our president of this nation. And sir

and sir,

we have served this nation. You want to

hear indie?

>> Sir, am I permitted? Mr. Speaker, we in

the People's Progressive Party Civic has

served this nation for almost 76 years

and we never get migraine headache.

>> Every day we go out. But here what

technology is also where is Dr. Fran.

>> Mr. Speaker,

for all those people who have migraine

headache

>> setal migraine is available over the

counter. Thank you very much everybody.

Thank you very much, honorable

minister.

>> And now for the honorable member, Mr.

Dwarte

Hsburgger.

Mr. Speaker,

>> honorable members

from both sides of the house.

>> Good afternoon.

It's indeed a pleasure

to be here in this honorable house as a

representative of the people of this

country.

>> I can't help it but to certain things.

>> I'm trying not to be disrespectful to my

elders and the disabled, but for you, my

sir, I will humbly put aside my

principles.

>> Anyhow, Mr. Speaker,

um this afternoon I would like to

congratulate all the members who were

elected to be in this August House,

especially to those who are new to this

house um including myself and those new

ministerial um members.

Um

further, Mr. Speaker, I would like to

extend an heartfelt gratitude to the 109

persons,

109,000

individuals

who who decided that they wanted

something new

and put their trust behind this

movement, the we invest in nationhood

movement. And mind you, Mr. Speaker, you

would hear me saying movement. This is a

movement because we have a purpose, not

a party that usually makes noise.

>> Hot air.

>> And I understand the reason for the on

and off of the AC is the hot air that

rises at a certain end.

>> Mr. Speaker,

>> Mr. Speaker,

allow me to make

my contribution. But before I go, I for

the past few days, we heard about this

whopping majority and the endorsement by

the people of Ghana. That is good.

Kudos.

You have a whopping majority, a 36 seat

majority, and you should be sitting and

doing the gods. But however,

you every day

This 16 bothers you.

Forgive you my colleagues on this side.

We we are on the same side. But forgive

me.

Every day the 16 is a turn in your side.

It tells me about your insecurity.

WHAT IT ALSO TELLS ME, MR. MR. SPEAKER,

what it also tells me is that IF IN 3

MONTHS, MR. SPEAKER, 3 MONTHS,

>> WE gnered

16 seats,

>> it sh

>> what will happen in 5 YEARS? AND THAT IS

WHAT GIVES THEM sleepless nights and

they would want to talk. It's politics.

This is not politics, Mr. Speaker.

>> Insecurity.

>> That's insecurity there.

>> A face of double standard.

>> Mr. Speaker,

Mr. Speaker, I stand here to

>> make my contributions to this debate.

My first presentation is to be a part of

this budget debate.

Mr. Speaker,

>> this budget is presented under the theme

>> putting people first.

>> Everybody is saying this thing, but like

it's borrowed. So, I wouldn't repeat

that, right? I wouldn't repeat that

because it's it's already in the record,

>> right?

>> And more so outside of it being

borrowed, Mr. Speaker,

it falls short of relieving the many

burdens faced by the ordinary GY,

although it being a whopping 1.558

trillion. Mr. Speaker, my contribution

today is not

is not to test

that amount with rhetoric. It's not to

test it with rhetoric. is to test it

with the supreme law of this land, the

constitution. Mr. Speaker, the budget

documents and the realities of the

people on the ground that faith daily.

Mr. Speaker, I intend to identify

highlight the deficiencies in the

budget, particularly, Mr. Speaker, as it

relates to local government and regional

development.

This is not an opposition for the sake

of opposing.

It is a necessary exercise

in constitutional

responsibility and accountability

where the constitution establishes

government as a cornerstone for

democratic governance. It is the duty of

this house to ensure that our budgets

strengthen and do not quit quiet quietly

undermine that constitutional intent.

Mr. Speaker, no matter how much we

spend,

no matter how large the figures may

appear, if the constitution is not

honored in practice,

local government will remain weakened,

marginalized, and disrespected.

>> Meaningful development, Mr. Speaker,

does not flow from expenditure alone.

It flows from system of respect for the

law.

Empower elected representatives and

involve people not as subject to

administration

but as partners of governance. Mr.

Speaker, let me be unequivocal.

Money cannot cure constitutional

disrespect. The time has come. Money

cannot cure constitutional disrespect.

>> Mr. Mr. Speaker,

>> Mr. Speaker, local government in Guyana

is not an extension of Shift Changer

Paul drive or the corridors of Rob

Street, right? It's a constitutional

pillar in our democracy.

>> Article 12, if you listen, you will get

the point. Article 12 of our

constitution is abundantly clear, Mr.

speaker and I want to quote verbatim

so that my colleagues on the other side

do not go misinformed or in any form

>> right outside of that

>> local government by freely elected

representatives of the people

is an integral part of the democratic

organization of the state.

>> They had to play an important part in

the development of the state.

>> Right.

>> Mr. Speaker,

>> I notice my friend

>> I notice my friend, the honorable James

Bond is not interfering in this. He's

not contributing to this

>> because we were once at fish shop and

they blamed us to colluding. But I

understand that he repented so I could

understand why he's not saying anything

right

>> without article 12. Mr. Speaker, with

article 12, Mr. Speaker, it is further

further. It goes further. When we look

at chapter 7 articles 7:1

to 78B

it gives us the establishment of these

LDOS's

>> right

>> as institution of God vested with the

authority guess where Mr. Speaker

>> through the ballot box

>> through the ballot box

>> they are vested with that authority Mr.

Speaker

not to be overridden by the by

administrative convenience

>> and by extension the executive.

>> They are constitutionally

invested

in implementing policy programs that

determine

by the duly elected

authority with administrative authority

across all areas with the exception of

two Mr. speaker with the exception of

two and that is foreign relations and

defense that it stays with the

executive. The framers of our

constitution understood that that when

we're talking about development if you

listen you're going everything's fly

over your head when you listen you learn

Mr. figure out where we talking about

development. Our framers intended for

the people to be a part of the process

because they understood that with a rich

nation like this, it cannot be DONE FROM

THE CENTER, THE PEOPLE HAVE to be

involved.

But they also saw that

>> on a macro scale, defense and foreign

relation has to be dealt with from a

macro scale.

>> Right.

Thank you. I know I look I know I look

young. I know I look young. Thank you

very much. Thank Mr. Speaker,

I want to compound this point by saying

on the se on 1st of September

on the 1st of September, Mr. Speaker,

>> I want to

I want my honorable members to

understand that there wasn't only one

elections.

There was two there was 11 elections,

Mr. Speaker. One of those elections the

our electors cast two ballots.

One to elect the honorable members of

this house and also to elect the party

that will be at the governance the

executive arm of government.

>> They that go over the head.

>> Everything is go over the head. could

have lost it with the truly.

>> They lost it. Right. Right.

>> Yes, Mr. Speaker.

>> Mr. Speaker, that was one part of the

election. The other 10 elections were

for the regional democratic councils.

Mr. This wasn't action

a symbolic act.

>> It wasn't a symbolic act, Mr. Speaker.

It was a constitutional act conferring,

authority, legitimacy, and

responsibility both at the national and

regional levels. Mr. Speaker,

Mr. Mr. Speaker, for the past 3 days,

all you're hearing from that side of the

house is about democracy, democracy,

democracy.

>> Yet, Mr. Speaker,

>> ONE CANNOT PROFESS COMMITMENT TO

democracy while degrading the very

mandate that democracy produces.

>> IT IS NOW 5 MONTHS, MR. SPEAKER, 5

months since those elections were held.

And yet,

And yet, Mr. Speaker, Upper Demorara

Boris Region 10

>> Regional Democratic Council HAS YET

CONVENED ITS statutory meeting

>> has not reconvene its statutory meeting

>> to conclude

its elections.

>> You put honorable to that name Mr. born.

>> Yeah, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker,

>> they haven't reconveneed that statutory

meeting to conclude the election for its

chairperson and vice chairperson. Mr.

speaker

>> and a budget is before this honorable

house, Mr. Speaker, prepared.

>> Expenditure has been outlined.

>> The programs are moving forward. YET THE

DULY ELECTED COUNCIL, the body