Josette Michael: Hon Asot Michael slams 2010 budget as a “mockery of governance”

Friday, 29 January 2010

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Michael slams 2010 budget as a “mockery of governance”

He says he keeps hoping that someone will wake him up with the reassuring news that Harold Lovell’s budget presentation 2010 was all part of a bad dream collectively experienced by the bewildered citizens of this country.

But “alas”, says outspoken St Peter MP Asot Michael, “it is the real deal… the genuine article of UPP incompetence, deception and trickery… a complete mockery of the governance of Antigua and Barbuda”.

He told Parliament the Government’s loudly trumpeted Agenda for Change back in 2004 was simply a case of fooling the people:

“Everything that was alleged to have been wrong under the Antigua Labour Party would have been corrected by what was deemed right with the United Progressive Party. Revenue would rise, expenditure would fall and just like that, current account deficits would have vanished into thin air. Those were the curious Alice in Wonderland days when we were told that those who paid more taxes and had less disposable income were somehow able to save more.

“We heard of spiraling expenditure that needed to be curtailed… We heard of a 240 million dollar public service bloated with ghost workers and we were told of the urgent need to downsize through the voluntary separation package.

“We assume that sunshine has scorched the ghost workers away and thousands have taken the voluntary package. But the public service with a head count of 9,958 that is no longer bloated now costs 310 million dollars per year… Overall government expenditure has sky-rocketed past one billion dollars to an all time high forcing compulsory moves to cut spending by 25 percent. The tax bounty that was bullied up to the 800 million dollar mark has been condemned to reverse gear with a 22 percent fall off in 2009. Consequently, the deficit that should have whittled and died in the burning heat has swollen to 172.5 million dollars in 2009”.

Michael was nonetheless severely critical of the numbers because as far as he is concerned the estimates tell you one thing and then the budget statement has its own completely different story:

“At page 5 of the budget statement, Madame Speaker, the Finance Minister reports a downward revision of estimated expenditure for 2009 from $851.97 million to $786.92 million. The recurrent estimates at page (Roman numeral) I, puts the 2009 expenditure estimate at $974.8 million with an upward revision to $1.1 billion. The revised expenditure estimates from both sources present a variance of $301.7 million. What are we to believe? More importantly Madame Speaker, what will this Honourable House approve?

“On the revenue side Madame Speaker, we read at page 5 of the budget statement that the 2009 revenue estimate of $786.71 million was taken down to $614.46 million. In the recurrent estimates at page (Roman numeral) V, we see a 2009 revenue projection of $799.45 million. There is no revised figure for this 2009 revenue estimate.

“In other words Madame Speaker, according to the different tales told in the estimates, expenditure could be as high as $1.1 billion and revenue could be as low as $614.46 million, which leaves us staring in the face of a current account deficit in the region of 480 million dollars.

Michael asked the Finance Minister whether he saw “merit Sir in ignoring the economic disasters of the last five years” just so that he can continue to make the Antigua Labour Party “the target of a redundant blame game that is totally devoid of any value to the people of this country.

“I suggest Madame Speaker that as a blind follower of Dr Cort from March 2004 to March 2009, the Member for City East had no clue what he was supporting and he is even more clueless now as to what needs to be done under his watch as Finance Minister.

Back in 2004 Madame Speaker, the ALP government was crucified for late payment of salaries to public officers. And when, in those challenging days of definitive social transformation, it prioritized investments in the livelihood of nationals over debt commitments to international funding agencies, the ALP attracted the UPP label of rogue government.

“For us, it was the basic governance matter of choice… meeting the pressing needs of our people first and dealing with debts later or vice versa. As always, Madame Speaker, regardless of the consequences, the Antigua Labour Party puts people first.

“The UPP took office on the promise that it had the expertise to ensure that public sector salaries would never be paid late and debt payments would be made on time. Remarkably, it ended the five year term struggling to meet basic monthly salary and other expenditure commitments even though it had 400 million more to spend per year than the ALP had at its disposal prior to March 2004”.