“How will the Minister spend $500M in a few days when that sum is way more than the initial sum approved in the budget for an entire year?”Former Finance Minister, Carl GreenidgeThat was the concern expressed recently by Former Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge. The Opposition Member of Parliament is adamant that the $500M approved two sittings ago in the National Assembly for the Amerindian Development Fund has nothing to do with national interest.Greenidge described the supplementary provision as the most disgraceful one he has ever witnessed during his tenure as a politician. He said that it is being asked for to ‘buy votes’ and for Amerindians to campaign for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).Greenidge told Kaieteur News that both of the opposition political parties know that it is an impossible task to spend $500M, for “development,” in a few days, unless contracts are involved.Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan had filed a motion to cut $300M from a request for supplementary provision for the Amerindian Development Fund. This money was allocated to fund the provision of transportation, health care and education.This motion attracted a protest during that sitting. Some of the placards displayed by the demonstrators read ‘AFC & APNU will no longer get our support’ and ‘We demand development just like any other Guyanese.’But the AFC’s motion was unsuccessful as it didn’t attract a majority vote.Members of Parliament vote resulted in the motion to reduce the provision not being carried in the Committee of Supply.On votes to pass the provisions, 30 members abstained, two members voted against it and 32 MPs voted in support.Greenidge was one who abstained.APNU leader,David GrangerThe Shadow Finance Minister for A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) called the request an irresponsible one on the floor of the National Assembly and was subsequently rebuked by the Speaker Raphael Trotman.Accepting the Speaker’s contentions, Greenidge called for a justification in the validity,Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys, feasibility and acceptability of the large request.Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai told the House that the $500M supplementary funding comes on the heels of the just concluded National Toshao’s Council meetings, which sought to provide a forum for Amerindian village leaders to plan developmental projects for their respective communities.According to her, it includes coverage: of transportation costs for school children using both the roadways and waterways; and costs to develop roads and access paths to promote trade and agriculture, among other priority areas.AFC Member Valerie Garrido-Lowe noted the time frame of the submission, two weeks before the end of the year and few days before school closed.She noted too that the supplementary is more than the initial sum approved in the 2013 Budget, $392M.Greenidge told Kaieteur News that the government is using the money to pay mostly young Amerindians to Campaign for the PPP.“The government is telling us it is for transportation but for children. Yes, the money is being used for transportation but to transport people to come and picket…but it is illegal to use money for other reasons that you state.”Greenidge asked why “the parties” would abstain from the vote knowing full well that the money is not going to be spent the way it is put forward to be.The former Minister said that his personal view is that those opposition MPs who abstained or supported have neither faith nor belief in the Amerindians. “They think that the Amerindians are not smart enough to know that the PPP is using them. The Opposition is basically afraid to antagonize the Amerindians.”The politician said that he has confidence in the Amerindians and that even if they miss a trick once, overtime they will realize that they are being used to keep the PPP in power.He called on Amerindians to mobilize and take necessary actions “since the political parties seems not to have faith in them.”
