[www.inewsguyana.com] – Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon has noted that the imminent arrival of the salary date for the month of May in the Public Service has with stark clarity, brought home the full impact of the 2014 Appropriation Act, which was passed in the Parliament subsequent to the $37.4B cut from the $220B National budget.
He told reporters at his post cabinet media briefing on Thursday (May 22) that the impact would no doubt take its toll on the livelihoods of the affected workers, particularly those at the Office of the President and its subventions agencies.
Both the capital and current expenditure programmes for administrative services for the Office of the President were disapproved by the Opposition.
“The impact were it to be felt would essentially see us putting up the for rent or for sale sign as there is no money in the kitty…nothing to support even the most routine activities of the Office of the President and the subvention agencies under the Office of the President,” Dr. Luncheon said.
He explained that the impact is such that it has not only threatened the discharge of the constitutional functions of the President, but livelihoods of many public officers as well. Many of these officers were appointed by the Public Service Commission to pensionable posts.
According to Dr Luncheon, the intellectual authors of the 2014 Appropriation Act need to be reminded that for these workers, the said Act may be seen as a denial of their constitutional rights.
“With such a track record, Guyanese must be warned and must be on the alert; the Opposition appears to have little attention, little care for the rights of ordinary Guyanese. They send the most conflicting of messages and conflicting of signals and this is all done as they pursue their narrow partisan political interests,” the Cabinet Secretary said.
[Extracted and modified from GINA]
