The Culture Digest
Guyana's Most Honest Cop Returns Missing $1 million to Rightful Owner AND Parliament Approves Billions in Supplementary Funding
Good morning Guyana!
Welcome to the Friday, December 17, 2021, edition of The Culture Digest.
PARLIAMENT APPROVES BILLIONS IN SUPPLEMENTARY FUNDING
Contingency Fund
The government used its majority in Parliament to have the National Assembly approve the $5.1 billion the government had already spent from the Contingency Fund**. Of that sum, $2 billion went to GUYSUCO. Of that $2 billion, $1.6 Billion was for salaries, $286 million was for fuel, while an additional $48 million was given for lubricants and $130M to rent lorries. Ramjattan questioned the urgency of the funds for salaries for Guysuco since the company received over $2 billion earlier this year in the national budget. However, Zulfikar Mustapha asserted that the previous $2 billion in question had to be diverted to flood relief efforts back in June.
Local Content Bill
The long-awaited Local Content Bill was tabled today in the National Assembly. If passed, the Bill will prioritize Guyanese nationals and companies in the procurement of goods and services to enhance the industry. The government had scrapped APNU’s version of the document as they complained of a lack of initiatives for local participation in the sector.
Natural Resources Act
The government tabled a bill to amend the management of the Natural Resources Fund. If approved, the Fund would be managed by a board of directors led by one director elected by Parliament and one selected by the private sector.
Ministry of Housing gets $7.7 billion
The Ministry of Housing is getting $7.7 billion to execute infrastructural works in new and existing housing schemes and the construction of the Eccles to Diamond four-lane highway. Of the $7.7 billion, $4.7 billion will go towards infrastructural works; $1.9 billion for the Eccles to Diamond road; and $521 million for survey works. They will need $13.3 billion in total for the road, and thus, a 15 percent mobilization advance was being sought.
Cash Grants for Private School Kids
The National Assembly approved an additional $285.1 million to give cash grants to private school students. Manickchand also went to pains to refute claims that the grant is a “political gimmick.” She instead referred to it as an act of love and service to Guyana’s children. (I wish someone would show some love and service to my bank account.)
Long Story Short, the government, got the billions it was seeking...
By the end of the night, the government also got the additional $21.4 billion in supplementary funds it was seeking. (I would go into more detail, but it’s now after midnight, and big numbers make my head hurt after a certain hour.) So, if you want a more detailed breakdown, DPI did an excellent job milking every element of the debates for stories.
Weird flex, but okay....?
Speaking of DPI... Somehow our politics and news reporting has devolved to the point that someone at DPI found it necessary to make it sound like Robeson Benn is seriously bragging about how much more cocaine busts took place during the Coalition’s first year in office compared to this administration’s first year. (Honestly, given the PPP’s history or “interesting” relationships with questionable “businessmen,” that bragging sounds WAY more insidious than it should.) They were quoting Robeson Benn in Parliament as he responded to a question posed by Jermaine Figueira. Benn said that in APNU’s first year, 99 pounds were shipped compared to 19 pounds under this administration. But for some reason, they aren’t counting the 1.5 TONS OF COLOMBIAN BOOGER SUGAR THAT WAS SEIZED IN GERMANY or the 11.2 TONS SEIZED IN BELGIUM. (Gotta love that poorly written Government propaganda, am I right?)
IN OTHER NEWS...
Guyana’s Most Honest Cop Returns Missing $1 million to Rightful Owner
On Thursday, 22-year-old Constable Tatyanna Blair-DaSilva was recognized and rewarded by the police for finding and returning a bag with over a million dollars to its rightful owner. The Force and a private security firm awarded her $200,000 for returning the laptop bag containing US$3,000, $300,000 GYD, an iPhone, ID card, and passport. The items belonged to overseas-based Guyanese Sheik Ali and were discovered under a shed in Fyrish Village, Berbice. (It’s good they recognized her, but seriously Constable Honesty here needs to be put on the fast track to a promotion.)
PAUSE: I just did some digging, and according to one FB user, this is not the first time she has done this:
Seriously, why hasn’t Officer Do-Good been promoted yet? I’m about this close to filing a petition.
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