THE agony of those who have been affected by the lack of funding for Programme One in the Office of the President (OP) would soon end and workers can anticipate payments soon, Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon reported yesterday.
Dr. Luncheon preferred not to be more specific but said he trusts the workers will take his word for it. He was at the time speaking at his usual post-cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President in Georgetown.
All of the OP staffers have continued to work despite not being in receipt of their May salaries, Luncheon said, but he reiterated that they will be paid sooner rather than later.
At a previous press conference, Luncheon said the imminent arrival of the salary date for May in the Public Service had brought home, with stark clarity, the full impact of the 2014 Appropriation Act, which was passed in the National Assembly subsequent to the $37.4B Opposition-led cut from the $220B national budget.
He had said that the impact would no doubt take its toll on the livelihoods of the affected workers, particularly those at OP and its subventions agencies.
Both the capital and current expenditure programmes for administrative services for OP were disapproved by the political Opposition in Parliament.
“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 OP,” Dr. Luncheon had told reporters.
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.
Under the allocation for OP, the cuts include $245M for the Presidential Guard services; $95M for the provision of developmental and humanitarian aid, among other initiatives; $10M for the Office of the First Lady; $73.5M for the Guyana Energy Agency; $119M for the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest); $122M for the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST); $17M for the Integrity Commission; and $28.5M for the Office of the Commissioner of Information.
Last year, the combined Opposition cut the Budget by $31B; and in 2012 by $21B.
Written By Telesha Ramnarine