HGP Nightly News – The National Assembly approved $54.89 billion in supplementary expenditure on Monday as opposition MPs stood inside the chamber chanting and pounding their desks over the government’s handling of the MV Barima tragedy.
The financial papers, comprising $50.14 billion in capital expenditure and $4.75 billion in current spending, passed without detailed opposition questioning.
Opposition members remained on the floor throughout the consideration of the allocations but declined to question ministers about the individual requests.
The largest allocation, $19.09 billion, went to the Office of the Prime Minister, primarily to support the Gas-to-Energy Project.
Another $17.5 billion was approved for the Ministry of Housing and Water to finance its accelerated housing and infrastructure programme.
The Ministry of Public Works received $8.5 billion. Of that sum, $6 billion was allocated to road and drainage works, with the remaining $2.5 billion intended for hinterland roads.
A further $8.3 billion went to the Ministry of Agriculture.
GuySuCo received $3 billion, part of which will finance retroactive payments to sugar workers. The Guyana Rice Development Board was allocated $807.5 million, while the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority received $4.5 billion.
Parliament also approved $1.1 billion for the Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation to support coastal airstrip maintenance and water-supply interventions.
The Ministry of Health received $337.95 million for regional and clinical services, while $60 million was allocated to the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The additional expenditure was approved six months after Parliament passed Guyana’s record $1.558 trillion national budget, equivalent to approximately US$7.45 billion.
While the government advanced the spending measures, opposition parliamentarians kept their attention on the MV Barima disaster.
They demanded the resignation of Public Works Minister Juan Edghill and Deodat Indar, the former minister within the Public Works Ministry who now holds responsibility for public utilities and aviation.
The opposition has argued that both men should step aside while the Commission of Inquiry examines the operation, maintenance and regulation of the state-owned vessel, along with the search-and-recovery response.
Neither minister has been found responsible for the disaster, and the government has rejected calls for their resignation.
Earlier in the sitting, opposition MPs declined to ask oral questions appearing on the Order Paper. Ministers instead tabled written responses without facing supplementary questions.
The same approach during the consideration of the financial papers meant the government’s requests passed without the usual scrutiny of costs, implementation schedules or expected outcomes.
The protest kept the MV Barima tragedy at the centre of Monday’s sitting. It also meant that nearly $55 billion in additional public spending was approved without the opposition using the available parliamentary process to interrogate the allocations.
