Leader of the Opposition, Azruddin Mohamed yesterday tore into the 2026 Budget declaring that it will not lift the masses out of poverty and he warned that the country was at risk of the misspending of its burgeoning oil wealth.
Mohamed, who waited for over two months to be sworn in as Leader since the Speaker refused to convene the requisite meeting until budget day, appeared unmoved by the torrent of heckling from the government benches about the extradition proceedings initiated against him by the United States.
“A budget should be judged not by how much is spent, but how smartly it is spent and how the people benefit. Mr. Speaker, the first duty of this house is to therefore look behind the glossy, catchy headlines and ask tough questions. Who are the revenue streams carrying in this unprecedented level of expenditure?” Mohamed said to the thumping of desks by his We Invest In Nationhood (WIN) colleagues on the opposition side and shouts of `Sanctions man’ among other names from government’s side of the House.
“…Parents are still choosing between medicine and school supplies. That is not putting people first—it is putting people last,” he thundered.
The WIN party leader was not in the House when it resumed after the 6 pm break which saw Prime Minister Mark Phillips preceding him, but he came in as Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was called to present.
Jagdeo was however absent and the PPP/C Chief Whip announced that he would not be presenting. Jagdeo had said he would attend parliament more frequently so that he could listen to Mohamed.
Clad in a black suit and tie, Mohamed took to the lectern and gripping the two sides began his delivery, even as he emphasized that he would not be intimidated by distraction but would bring his debate presentation as both a budget critique and a broader indictment of governance under the PPP/C.
“I rise as the Leader of the Opposition the newest political movement, We Invest in Nationhood, which was established on Independence Day of 2025 and in a mere three months was able to disrupt the political landscape of Guyana. Despite the name-calling; ‘sanctions man, gold smuggler, international fugitive’, despite the delay, resistance and every effort to keep me out, I am standing tall and strong,” he said.
“And as the youngest leader of the opposition…because over 109,000 voters believed in me and my MPs, it shows hope over fear and gave WIN a chance. I thank our supporters who therein bestowed on me this opportunity to scrutinize the largest budget ever in the history of Guyana, ‘Putting people last!’ and in this vein remind the members on the opposite side that Guyana’s parliament does not belong to you, it belongs to the people,” he added. He said too that, “no one can distract me because I have been through the worst under this PPP/C.”.
Out of touch
Blending sharp criticism with personal anecdotes, he blasted government along a broad front for a budget he believes prioritizes headline figures over tangible improvements in the lives of the masses.
“This week, I listened to PPP members heavily focused on personal attacks, on opposition members, and very little on their respective portfolios. The government presents this budget with much pride and chatter about its size…all week, speakers from the government boast about their $1.558 trillion budget. Yes, with assurance to the nation that the budget is financed entirely with no new taxes, but I want to caution those honourable members who are out of touch with the realities of the ordinary citizens. That size is not a measure of success. This year’s budget represents a 12.7% increase from last year’s budget and it is five times larger than the PPP’s first national budget in 2021. Every year, they come to this house with historic groundbreaking numbers. But where is this money going, Mr. Speaker? And who really benefits?” he questioned.
“…Mr. Speaker, Honourable Ashni Singh told this noble house that the economy is projected to grow 16.2% overall, and the non-oil economy will expand by 10.8%. These are impressive numbers. They look good on paper, but they do not help a mother who stands in the market and finds that the salary she earned this month buys less than it did last month. Ask me how I know, Honourable Members? It is because I have been on the ground. I have travelled the length and breadth of this country. And I have reached into my own pockets on numerous occasions to help many people when the government failed them,” he added.
First time
The presentation was punctuated by frequent interruptions over parliamentary procedure, including repeated objections from government members that Mohamed was reading from prepared notes, as well as exchanges over language deemed unparliamentary.
Government’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira throughout Mohamed’s presentation rose to point to the Standing Orders that reading from a prepared speech during the debate was not allowed and that Mohamed was reading. Heckles of ‘Stop Reading!’, `Talk from your heart not the paper’, and Ow Lord! He reading again’ flowed.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir reminded Mohamed of the Standing Orders, even as APNU and WIN parliamentarians shouted out that many persons from the government’s side read their entire speeches and the Speaker made no objection.
Mohamed, took note as he pointed out that it was his first time and “we have all been there and had a first time”.
He pressed on as he argued that despite record-breaking allocations and projected economic growth, poverty, cost-of-living pressures, and public service stagnation continue to define daily life for a large segment of the population.
Mohamed said the scale of the budget, touted by the Government as the largest in Guyana’s history, was “not impressive” in itself. He questioned how the funds would translate into real benefits, pointing to the absence of salary increases for public servants, security guards, and other frontline workers. He contended that growth figures cited by the Finance Ministry do little to help families facing rising food prices, transportation costs, and utility bills.
Statistics
A central theme of the Opposition Leader’s speech was inequality. Citing international development statistics, Mohamed charged that a majority of Guyanese remain poor or vulnerable, and argued that economic expansion has been concentrated among politically connected groups.
“So I ask, are these projections realistic for ordinary citizens facing high costs of living? At a time when the recent IDB stats, I know you don’t like to hear the stats but 58%, yes 58% of Guyanese are living in poverty and 32% in abject poverty. Where in these figures do we see betterment for the single parent, the teacher, the cane cutters, the fishermen, the pensioner, our indigenous people…?” he questioned
Indigenous peoples of this country, he added, face hardships with complaints that falls on deaf ears. “The Honourable Sarah Browne is here. Please do better for the indigenous people. Please do better for them, because we will be on your backs every day to ensure that you better the lives of the indigenous people. Growth that is felt only in boardrooms and government reports is not growth,” he posited.
He also asserted that oil revenues, while unprecedented, are being treated as routine income rather than a transformative national resource, warning that Guyana risks repeating the familiar “resource curse” seen in other petroleum-producing states.
Raising repeated concerns about transparency and oversight, he pointed out particularly in relation to withdrawals from the Natural Resource Fund, that parliamentary approval via a government majority does not amount to meaningful oversight, and called for fully published forensic audits, an independent NRF board with opposition and civil society representation, and stronger technical monitoring of offshore oil operations.
Beyond oil and gas, the Opposition Leader criticized what he described as widespread mismanagement across sectors. He pointed to persistent blackouts despite heavy spending on power generation, deteriorating roads and bridges shortly after construction, and declining performance in traditional industries such as gold mining, fishing, rice, and sugar.
Leakages
Mohamed, a gold trader whose US indictment pertains to the under-invoicing of shipments of the precious metal, questioned official data on gold declarations and foreign currency shortages, suggesting significant leakages from the financial system.
“Gold declarations for 2025 declined steeply by 21.5% to 121,000 ounces. But when I was in the business, the declarations were higher. Where is the gold going, Honourable Vickram (Bharrat)? Where is the gold going?
“An average of 2 billion US dollars leaking out of our banking system, causing a heavy rate. Right now, if you go to the banks, if you go to any one of the banks, you can’t get US. And the Honourable Ashni (Singh) knows very well what I’m speaking about. If you go to the banks for a US$20,000 wire transfer, you got to wait two or three weeks. But when I was in operation, the banks would call me midnight to ensure they get a couple million US for the next day. So that is why we are facing a heavy increase as it relates to the cost of living in Guyana,” he said.
Mohamed said that “I know very well about the gold business and from 2015 to 2020, the PPP/C benefited the most from my business.”
And when the House was quiet, APNU MP David Hinds made a rare heckle as he told government’s side, “Ya’ll quiet when he saying some things but wasn’t for me. That is because he knows ya’ll dutty stories.”
Social services featured prominently in Mohamed’s critique. He described pension increases as inadequate, questioned discrepancies in reported pensioner numbers, and argued that public assistance and disability support lag far behind inflation. He also faulted education and health spending, citing school infrastructure defects, bullying, inadequate dormitory facilities in hinterland regions, delayed payments to health workers, and unfinished hospital projects despite repeated budgetary allocations.
The opposition, he said, was not opposed to development itself and outlined alternative measures proposed by WIN, including higher public sector wages tied to productivity, reductions in VAT and income taxes, electricity and water subsidies, food banks, community agriculture projects, and more direct investment in people rather than large capital projects.
Mohamed said Guyana stood at a historic crossroads, with oil wealth offering an opportunity that previous generations could not have imagined. He warned that history would judge the current leadership not by the size of its budgets, but by whether prosperity was broadly shared. It is on that basis that he announced that he could not support the passage of the 2026 Budget.
“Mr. Speaker, Guyana stands at a historic crossroads. Never has our nation commanded resources of this scale. But with that privilege comes responsibility. We cannot sit here as leaders of this great nation and mistake volume for vision, or lavish spending for strategy,” he said.
“History will record what we did with this opportunity. Let it never be said that at the hour of abundance that we did not do our best to ensure all 800,000 plus Guyanese benefited from our wealth. That said, Mr. Speaker, I cannot support the 2026 budget for passage of this assembly,” he declared.
