HGP Nightly News – APNU Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul dissected the government’s 2026 National Budget, framing its record $1.558 trillion in spending as a collection of figures fundamentally disconnected from the lived hardship of Guyanese citizens.
Mahipaul’s central critique targeted the budget’s social provisions, which he dismissed as mathematically inadequate. “This is arithmetic divorced from reality,” he stated, asserting that a budget claiming to “put people first” should seek to eliminate poverty, not merely administer it through token adjustments. He illustrated his point by calculating that increases to old-age pensions leave beneficiaries with less than $1,500 per day to navigate soaring costs for food, transport, and medicine.
The MP’s analysis then shifted from social policy to a direct challenge of governmental accountability. He presented a detailed list of capital projects under the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development including market rehabilitations and green spaces, that were reported as fully funded and completed in 2025. Contradicting these official claims, Mahipaul asserted that his own site visits revealed little to no physical evidence of the work, labeling them potential “phantom projects.”
This discrepancy, he argued, points to a grave breach of public trust and justified his call for immediate forensic audits. “When public funds are recorded as spent without corresponding infrastructure on the ground, it represents a fundamental breach of public trust,” Mahipaul stated.
Expanding his critique, Mahipaul condemned a perceived “double standard” in governance, where strict enforcement targets small vendors and bus operators while alleged impunity shields politically connected contractors. He warned this selective application of the law erodes institutional confidence.
Mahipaul posited that Budget 2026 entrenches a “two-Guyana” reality: one propelled by connected opportunity and another struggling to survive, a division he argued is starkly visible despite the nation’s historic oil revenues. His presentation positioned the fiscal plan not as a bridge to unity, but as a document that codifies inequality and obscures the trail of public funds.
