THE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES OFFICIAL REPORT [VOLUME] PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE THIRD PARLIAMENT OF GUYANA UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF GUYANA 110th Sitting 2 p.m. Monday, 10th January, 1977 MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY Speaker Cde. Sase Narain, O.R., J.P., Speaker Members of the Government – People’s National Congress (50) Prime Minister (1) Cde. L.F.S. Burnham, O.E., S.C., Prime Minister (Absent) Deputy Prime Minister (1) Cde. P.A. Reid, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Development Senior Ministers (9) Cde. H. D. Hoyte, S.C., Minister of Economic Development (Absent) *Cde. H. Green, Minister of Co-operatives and National Mobilisation *Non-elected Minister 1 *Cde. H. O. Jack, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources *Cde. F. E. Hope, Minister of Finance (Absent) *Cde. S. S. Naraine, A. A., Minister of Works and Housing (Absent – on leave) *Cde. G. A. King, Minister of Trade and Consumer Protection *Cde. G. B. Kennard, C. C. H., Minister of Agriculture *Cde. C. L. Baird, Minister of Education and Social Development (Absent) *Cde. F. R. Wills, S. C., Minister of Foreign Affairs and Justice (Absent) Ministers (5) Cde. W. G. Carrington, Minister of Labour Cde. S. M. Field-Ridley, Minister of Information and Culture Cde. B. Ramsaroop, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Leader of the House *Cde. O. M. R. Harper, Minister of Health *Cde. C.V. Mingo, Minister of Home Affairs Ministers of State (9) Cde. M. Kasim, A. A., Minister of State for Agriculture *Non-elected Minister 2 Cde. O. E. Clarke, Minister of State – Regional (East Berbice/Corentyne) Cde. P. Duncan, J.P., Minister of State – Regional (Rupununi) Cde. C. A. Nascimento, Minister of State, Office of the Prime Minister (Absent) Cde. K. B. Bancroft, Minister of State – Regional (Mazaruni/Potaro) Cde. J. P. Chowritmootoo, Minister of State – Regional (Essequibo Coast/West Demerara) *Cde. W. Haynes, Minister of State for Consumer Protection *Cde. A. Salim, Minister of State – Regional (East Demerara/West Coast Berbice) *Cde. F. U. A. Carmichael, Minister of State – Regional (North West) Parliamentary Secretaries (6) Cde. J. R. Thomas, Parliamentary Secretary, Minister of National Development Cde. M. M. Ackman, C. C. H., Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister, and Government Chief Whip Cde. E. L. Ambrose, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture *Non-elected Minister 3 Cde. S. Prashad, Parliamentary Secretary, Minister of Co-operatives and National Mobilisation Cde. R. H. O. Corbin, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education and Social Development Cde. M. Corrica, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Works and Housing (Absent) Other Members (19) Cde. L. M. Branco Cde. E. M. Bynoe Cde. E. H. A. Fowler Cde. J. Gill Cde. W. Hussain Cde. S. Jaiserrisingh Cde. K. M. E. Jonas Cde. M. Nissar Cde. L. E. Ramsahoye Cde. J. G. Ramson Cde. P.A. Rayman Cde. E. M. Stoby, J. P. Cde. S. H. Sukhu, M.S., J.P. Cde. C. Sukul, J.P. Cde. H. A. Taylor Cde. R. C. Van Sluytman Cde. L. E. Willems (Absent) Cde. C. E. Wrights, J.P. Cde. M. Zaheeruddeen, J.P. (Absent) Members of the Opposition (16) (i) People’s Progressive Party (14) Leader of the Opposition (1) Cde. C. B. Jagan 4 Deputy Speaker (1) Cde. Ram Karran Other Members (12) Cde. J. Jagan Cde. Reepu Daman Persaud, J. P., Opposition Chief Whip Cde. Narbada Persaud Cde. C. Collymore Cde. S. F. Mohamed Cde. L. Lalbahadur (Absent – on leave) Cde. B. James (Absent) Cde. C. C. Belgrave Cde. R. Ally Cde. Dalchand, J. P. Cde. Dindayal Cde. H. Nokta (ii) Liberator Party (2) Mr. M. F. Singh Mrs. E. DaSilva OFFICERS Clerk of the National Assembly – F. A. Narain Acting Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly – A. Knight 5 10.1.77 National Assembly 2 – 2.10 p.m. 2 p.m. PRAYERS ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE SPEAKER Leave To Members The Speaker: Leave has been granted to Cde. Hoyte for today’s Sitting. PUBLIC BUSINESS MOTION APPROVAL OF ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR 1977 BUDGET DEBATE The Assembly resumed the debate on the Motion moved by the Minister of Finance on 30th December, 1976, for the approval of the estimates of expenditure for the financial year 1977, totaling $417,283,736. The Speaker: Cde. Belgrave Cde. Belgrave: Cde. Speaker, we in this House have had a break for two days from debating the 1977 Budget and I hope that during that break, members of the Government will have come to realise and understand the true position that this country is in. Last week glorious pictures were painted in this House by Ministers of the Government and a few backbenchers in relation to the wonderful position that this country I sin despite its economic problems. Unfortunately, as I see it, they used the wrong type of material for this painting. The used whit- wash and when the sun shone, it caked and exposed the position of the building prior to this exercise. 6 10.1.77 National Assembly 2 – 2.10 p.m. We have heard the Minister of Agriculture recording the agricultural output of this country from 1964 to 1976, the failure of the P.P.P. when it was in office and the progress made by the P.N.C. after it took office. The picture he painted to this honourable House doses not reflect the truth when it comes to the actual happenings where the people, the man in the street, the worker, is concerned. Take a look at the true agricultural position of this country. People are virtually starving in an agricultural land, a land where we should have plenty. In this land we need more produce so as to satisfy the people. When we were in office, we had no good days. Between 1961 and 1964 our Party was faced with turmoil, internal and external, strikes and so on. Some of the strife that was perpetrated in this land was carried out by the P.N.C. when it was not in office. Destabilisation is not new to us. Our economy, when we were in office, was on many occasions destabilised by the P.N.C. at the time when they were in opposition. But, out of this, we were able to find enough for the people to eat. I can remember some of those commodities which we enjoyed, commodities which are a necessity to us. Who will deny that plantains were two cents a pound on the bunch and four cents a pound off the bunch until 1964? Today, what is the true position in relation to those commodities? I shall run them down briefly. Plantains have gone up in price by leaps and bounds. If you cannot find some at 50¢ or 60¢ a pound, you cannot eat plantain. But comparison was made to the effect that when the P.P.P. was in office times were bad; the Government was a ridiculous Government; it could not afford to give the people these necessities. I have heard so much about yam balls. Who can afford a yam ball today? Yam sells at $1.48, sometimes $1.55, per pound. Eddoes, Tannias – you cannot even find them on the market. Imagine this in a country like Guyana where such commodities grow and we have been hearing all about nutritional values and balanced diet! These crops like Bora and Calaloo are 7 10.1.77 National Assembly 2 – 2.10 p.m. commodities that assist the working-class diet but if they are not scarce on the market, they can hardly be purchased by the working-class man. Whilst there is a tremendous jump in the price of the produce, what do we find over the period 1970 to 1976? Wages remain static. Other commodities jump tremendously in cost but what has happened to the working-class man where his wages are concerned? The Government has not seen it fit to raise the minimum wages from $5.50 a day. The Members of the P.N.C. cracked that in the P.P.P. time it was three dollars and odd centes a day but how much have they done in this period of time from 1964 to 1967 to raise the wages in comparison with the increased cost of living? Not one thing has been done! But we hear in terms of the working class man, “Through your hard work and efforts, we shall build a just society for all” that is, all of those who are in the privileged bracket. Take a look at how much it costs the working-class man to live each week. I am positive that not one of the Members of the Government side would deny this: if they do, they are out of touch with what is going on in this country. It costs a working-class man with a family of five %50 a week to survive. 2.10 p.m. Fifty dollars per week is costs a working-class man to survive and if one takes the minimum wage bracket of $5.50 per day, one will see that to survive a man has to supplement his income by close to $14 or $15 per week. For this reason I respectfully submit that this nation is plagued with an upsurge, a tremendous jump, in crime because the working-class people have no alternative. Don’t blame everybody in the society who commits an act of fraud as being a ridiculous element in society. If so be the case, there are several from the top bracket, who have committed these acts, some punished and some punished.