‘Balancing dollar and sense’
Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan
Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan

…Public service agencies financing COVID-19 measures on restricted budgets

By Tamica Garnett
SINCE the March 11 announcement of Guyana’s first confirmed case of the corona/COVID-19 virus, government agencies across the country have been implementing new measures to prevent against the spread. However, some agencies may start to feel the squeeze as they go about managing with limited finances, in light of a lack of budgetary allocations.
With the country’s last budget having expired since December 31, 2019 and the convening of a new National Assembly contingent on the yet-to-be-declared official general elections results, the national budget one-twelfth formula is operational. Article 36(1) of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act Chapter 73:02 allows for each budget agency to be issued month to month allocations of a “limit of one-twelfth of the amount that was expended by that budget agency in the immediately preceding fiscal year”.

Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson

Last year’s national budget was $300.7 billion, the biggest to date. At the Ministry of Education (MoE), Permanent Secretary, Alfred King, shared that, while some areas are sufficiently catered for, others may come up somewhat deficient in terms of catering for new measures in fighting the spread of the virus. “We developed a programme in keeping with that one twelfth, so for field materials, under which we would find things related to sanitation and toiletries, there may certainly need a bit more propping up if we are to go extensively on sanitising schools and facilities,” King explained.

Last week the MoE took the decision to close all public schools for two weeks effective yesterday (Monday 16). The Ministry noted that the closure period will be used to do a countrywide sanitisation of the school buildings. However, affording the sanitisation may be a matter of moving money from one line item to another. “Some lines are under pressure and need virement for support, like for janitorial services. The janitorial services we catered for were for normal cleaning agents, and toiletries. But because of this need for additional supplies, the funds available there certainly can’t hold it up. But only [Ministry of] Finance can say what will be allowed for that and how they would manage that,” King said.

Efforts were unsuccessful in contacting Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, for a comment on how that Ministry has been handling any possible issues of financial limitations as it spearheads the country’s fight against the spread of the virus, and dealing with patients as they emerge. In 2019 the MoPH was allocated $35.9 billion, one twelfth of which would come up to approximately $3 billion for the year. In restricting the spending of the one twelfth even further, the law notes that the monies cannot be spent in “relation to a subject matter or for a purpose for which there was no appropriation in the immediately preceding fiscal year”.

It is from this money that staff of the varying Ministries are currently being paid, and other expenses are being catered to in order to ensure uninterrupted functioning. “With the restriction we’re just doing the best we can,” Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, conveyed on Monday.

For 2019 his ministry was allocated $38.5 billion, one twelfth would be approximately $3.21 billion. “Of course money is never enough, the pandemic still continues but we have to obviously do it piece by piece. We have to follow the directions of the budget limitations but preeminently is the safety of our employees so we have a rotational system with staff and we’ve procured as much as we can procure in terms of hygienic equipment and so on, so we’re cleaning,” Patterson said.

Efforts to contact Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, on Monday, for a comment on the situation, proved futile.

At the Ministry of Communities (MoC), Permanent Secretary, Emil McGarrell would only say that: “The MoC has been following the directions of the MoPH to safeguard the public servants and members of the public. We will do everything to make sure that our staff and members of public remain safe as long as possible.”

He referred questions on how the Ministry has been financing measures across the Regions to the Public Relations Officer. The MoC is responsible for the management of the varying Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) and corresponding administrations. Following the announcement that the country’s first corona virus case was discovered on March 11, the Department of Public Service subsequently instituted a shift system effective from March 16-27, 2020, to prevent clustering at the workplaces. Relevant information is captured below.

Shift system
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Service has instituted a shift system in the sector as part of measures to tackle the scourge. In a circular released on Sunday and addressed to Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Departments and Regional Executive Officers, the Department of Public Service said that, on the directive of His Excellency, President David Granger, to coordinate the Public Service response to COVID-19; the department has approved the following Staff Rotation measures to prevent clustering at the workplaces during the period March 16 – 27, 2020.

MoE Permanent Secretary, Alfred King

1. Managerial staff/Heads of Units are expected to be present at work every day. All other staff are to be placed on rotation via a roster system and are expected to be at work on alternate days, to maintain an operational Public Service. On those days when staff are not in office, they are expected to be ‘On Call ‘ and be prepared to work at short notice, should the need arise.

2. Staff with flu-like symptoms should be reminded to call the emergency hotline and NOT go to the hospitals. Please note that Public Service Rule H45 which requires the officer to produce a medical certificate after being sick for three (3) consecutive days is still in effect. Further, Public Servants who are absent due to a mandatory COVID-19 quarantine for 14 days must be cleared by a Medical Practitioner prior to assuming duty.

3. To contain the spread or COVID-19, every Ministry/Department/Region has a responsibility to sanitize the work environment intermittently during working hours to protect all stakeholders. Please follow all guidelines set out by the Ministry of Public Health regarding containing the spread of COVID-19.

Officially declared a global pandemic by the WHO, corona virus has been sweeping the globe since the first outbreak originated in Wuhan, China in December, 2019. Since the first reported case, Guyana has confirmed an additional three cases, all being persons who would have come into contact with patient zero. The announcement of the corona virus reaching local shores, came amidst the country still dealing with issues emanating from the March 2, General and Regional Elections. Though Returning Officers (RO) from the country’s 10 voting districts have already declared respective results, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has not made a final national declaration.

The Commission has since embarked on a national recount of all votes.

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