By Tahna Weston
The performance of the Gaston Browne administration was the main focus of Leader of Government Business Senator Shenella Govia during her contribution to the Appropriations Bill.
Govia sang the praises of Prime Minister Gaston Browne as she spoke of strides made in tourism, improved infrastructure and the agriculture sector.
She also touched on the advancements made within the healthcare sector, and the fact that at the end of October the registration for new vehicles numbered over 1,000, based on a report from the Antigua and Barbuda Transport Board. Govia credits this to a growing economy, as people are spending more.
“This is the type of economic powerhouse that we are building as a government here, madame president. And Madam President we speak about the subsidies because we are a caring government, and I will borrow their line a government for the people, by the people, of the people, but it didn’t fit them madame president it clearly belongs over here.
“This is the type of performance that you have from the Gaston Browne-led administration and madam president. I was listening to the leader of the opposition speaking about outstanding payments, Madam President the record is there to show that the Treasury of Antigua and Barbuda is right now making arrangements to settle and to clear off all of the backlogs for gratuities for those civil servants who would have worked hard,” Govia said.
” In fact, the Treasury is indicating that sometimes they can’t even find some of the individuals so for those of you with outstanding gratuities between the years 2018 and 2019 please contact the Treasury Department.”
The Leader of Government Business spoke about the bumper tourism season, saying that the economy is growing as tourists are coming to Antigua and Barbuda. She also pointed to the country becoming a hub for international conferences looking back at the SIDS4 event while looking ahead to the OAS General Assembly to be held here next year.
Senator Govia used several opportunities to compare the tenure of the Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) with that of the United Progressive Party (UPP) administration, saying the Baldwin Spencer government failed to perform during its time in office.
Meanwhile, the new Senate Minority Leader David Massiah said that the budget presentation delivered by Minister of Finance Gaston Browne entitled “Creating a Resilient, Harmonious and Prosperous Nation“ did not address some of the fundamental issues impacting the country.
“Madam President, from where I sit I think largely the … failed to address some of the overarching framework to lay for what I consider sound decision making and the establishment or of employment of best practices in Antigua and Barbuda.
“Madam President, when I look at the population census, the household budgetary survey and the labour force survey are telling indicators in any country to make decisions and to formulate policies that will guide the direction of where you want to go with your budgets to create your targets to look at how you’re going to deal with situations,” the Senate Minority Leader said.
Massiah, during his presentation addressed the issue of unemployment in the country, citing that ‘we do not know the actual figures’.
“But in the absence of the labor force survey, Madam President, how do we know within in our country what is our unemployment or underemployment in this country so that we can gauge ourselves so that we can better inform to get the policies that are necessary to really have that resilient, harmonious, prosperous, nation.
“Issues of the country poverty assessment plays a key determining factor in understanding the number of people that would be under the poverty line, where we are, and it is important because I ask myself what are the data what is the data that we are relying on when we look at these policies, when we develop when we come with them what is the data?” Massiah said.
He stressed that the use of data is important in order to guide exactly where the country wants to go.
Massiah said that it is time to begin to hold “the people in charge feet to the fire” because the time has come for us to be able to move forward as a progressive nation.
