We are not interested in the political posturing and one-upmanship that is taking place among the committee members. This is not a question of political point scoring. The fact of the matter is that development funds have been politicised before and that the same is still happening now. The point is to move beyond partisan name-calling and to ensure that development funds are allocated on the basis of necessity and parity.

If there is one thing that the government and the opposition should be able to agree on it is that funding for development should not be politicised. The only considerations should be economic ones and not which way the constituency voted in the last election or who happens to be the member of parliament.

The political atmosphere in the country is too polarised as it is. We have long pleaded in these pages for a rapprochement between the major parties and some kind of consensus when it comes to managing the affairs of state. The country has suffered incalculable economic and non-economic damage due to the inability of the government and the opposition to compromise and work together.

The last thing we need is for this feud to be carried on into the sphere of development such that those who bear the greatest burden are the poorest and most vulnerable members of society -- those who depend on government development funding for the uplift of their region.

Ordinary people and specially those who are most in need of government assistance should not have to pay the price of the petty political in-fighting.