The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Kwara State has observed with dismay, shock and disbelief the pedestrian response that the PDP gave to the dispassionate and intervention of the ACN Gubernatorial aspirant in Kwara State, Mr. Dele Belgore (SAN) with respect to the allocation of a whopping N51 794, 060, 140.00 culminating to almost 55% of the total budgetary allocations. It will be recalled that Mr. Belgore (SAN) had recently echoed the concern of the public when he picked hole in the thoughtless allocation of an almost 55% of the total budgetary allocations to recurrent expenditure against the much required capital allocations, which is the ideal modern budgetary requirement. But alas, instead of the PDP to take the intervention in good faith and question its Government for throwing fiscal responsibility to the dogs, it deliberately misrepresented Mr. Belgore's advice, while also using its trade mark foul language to humiliate his person.

Blatantly lacking in decorum and cunningly deviant from the facts and issues at hand, the response is no more than an immoral, petty and an unethical attempt to rubbish a man for daring to hold a different opinion. The response of the PDP not only once again call into question the Intelligent Quotient of the marauders that are parading themselves as stakeholders in the state but also clearly given out the party and its functionaries as a bunch of expensively dressed jesters who in their delusional state would say anything as long as their undiscerning audience is awed of their gratuitous remarks.

While not holding the brief for Mr. Belgore, who we are convinced is capable of intelligently engaging the PDP and its Government, the CPC believes that this kind of budgetary projection, where Recurrent Expenditure is far bigger that the Capital Expenditure, absolutely falls short of the ideal budgetary requirement for a rural state like Kwara. The UNDP requires that a minimum of 70% should be reserved for Capital expenditure of developing states like Kwara in order to achieve accelerated and sustainable growth. Pray, how does the state under the PDP hope to achieve this with a budgetary outlook where the internally generated revenue is not even enough to offset its overhead cost let alone personnel cost with a combined strength of over 25Billion Naira? And to worsen the situation, there is an unprecedented level of wrongful spending priorities, income inequality and poor investment in social services.

However, instead of the PDP-led Government to cover its face in shame for reducing the entire budget process to an annual ritual for the government to slice the fiscal pie into various expenditure subheads that often fail to improve the welfare of the state, it disgracefully and mischievously twisted the innocent advice Mr. Belgore gave to meaning that the latter advocated a retrenchment of the state workers, a bogus claim that fell flat in the Government's face! Ironically, the tomfoolery of the PDP is being expressed at a time its Governor had reportedly given a marching order to the Local Government Chairmen, Ministries and Departments to embark on a mass retrenchment of their workforce.

It is rather laughable that at this age and century, the PDP would with bold face, list as achievements of a state Government with the huge resources at its disposal, the sinking of boreholes, filling of potholes, painting of classrooms, provision of chairs and tables to selected primary schools and the procurement of bicycles to party bootlickers. How more directionless and visionless can a Government be?

So, for the avoidance of doubt, what the ACN's candidate said in clear times, which our party absolutely agrees with, is that instead of filtering away the state resources on a very small circle of political jobbers, establishing new useless Ministries and Departments to create jobs for the boys with its attendant cost on the state budgetary expenditure, the Government should look inwards and reduce the size and cost of Government, learn to prioritise budgetary allocations, expand its revenue base by attracting Federal Government and Private Sector in mineral exploration, improve the state business climate by easing the starting and running of a business in the state. This of course does not, except in the widest imagination of the disillusioned and the mischievous, translate to a call by Belgore for the sacking of workers in the state, who are ordinarily wallowing in hunger as a result of their extremely poor remuneration.

A Government which expects to be courted only by court-jesters, hungry charlatans and favour seekers without any morality should be reminded that in a democracy, citizens reserve the right to question those in authority. Anyway, the true character and worth of a Government should be judged by the way its responds to criticisms. This is why the majority of Kwarans are whining loudly that the PDP-led Government is an unpleasant surprise to them and are seriously waiting in the wings to give it a boot come 2015.

Alhaji Buhari Suleiman
CPC Chairman

Related

Budget Row: Kwara Govt Runs Anti-People Patronage System, Belgore Insists

Kwara CPC Flays PDP's Reaction to Criticisms

PDP Kwara Slams Belgore on Comment

Get serious in 2013, Belgore tasks Kwara govt. Says Kwara's budget ridiculous