THE Government yesterday passed a Motion to reduce the number of days for consideration of the Estimates and Expenditures of Budget 2015 from seven days to three days. The Motion was moved by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who explained that Standing Order 73 (1) of the House allows members of the august body a maximum of seven days to consider the Estimates and Expenditures of the national budget.
He said three days are within the seven days mandated by Standing Order 73 (1), and as such the Motion is in order.

But Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira objected to the Motion, contending that it violates parliamentary traditions and conventions on consideration of the estimates and expenditures of the national budget.
She noted that in the past, various Speakers kept the consideration within the scheduled time allotted for the various ministries and agencies, and completed the exercise which stretched to the seventh day.
In some cases, she said, the exercise was completed within the last minute on the last day.
With the renaming of ministries and the expenditures of the old ministries, she said, the Opposition will have to double up its work to meet the new timeframe the government wants.

NO FAULT
This, the Opposition Chief Whip said, is unacceptable, but the Speaker, in his ruling said there is no fault in the Motion presented, since Standing Order 73 (1) allows consideration of the estimates and expenditures of the national budget to be completed within seven days.
Following the ruling of the Speaker, a dissatisfied Teixeira shouted, “Division!” But when the Motion was put to a vote, the PPP/C was out-voted, with 32 in favour of the government, and 28 in favour of them.
The consideration of the estimates and expenditures begins on Monday. The exercise, on each day, will begin at 13:00hrs. The first session begins at 13:00hrs and ends at 16:00hrs. This will be followed by a one-hour break and on resumption, the second session will end at 19:30hrs. At this time, the National Assembly will break for 30 minutes, and the final session will start at 20:00hrs and conclude at 23:00hrs.

PERSISTENT
Notwithstanding the Speaker’s ruling and being out-voted, the PPP/C remained persistent and continued to pile pressure on the government to withdraw the motion.
PPP/C Member of Parliament Dr Vindhya Persaud in her contribution to the budget debate said while the motion brought by the Prime Minister is in order, it has disregarded established parliamentary conventions.
She said the reduction in time will not allow the Opposition to adequately question the government on its programmes and policies.
This, she said is a slap in the face of transparency and accountability, which the government says it will champion.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, in a comment to the media, said the government is afraid of defending several elements in the budget estimates and appears to want the House to hurry through the consideration.
The PPP/C has also criticised what it said is an attempt to muzzle the Opposition Leader by limiting his address on the budget to 45 minutes.
The main Opposition party is also upset over an attempt by the government to break away from the parliamentary tradition of having the Opposition Leader be the penultimate speaker in the budget debate.
Meanwhile, the members of the Committee of Selection have been selected. Government’s Chief Whip and Social Cohesion Minister Amna Ally, Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson and Tourism Minister Cathy Hughes are the members on the government’s side.
Representing the Opposition on the committee are the Opposition’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, Juan Edghill, Gillian Burton-Persaud and Neil Kumar.

By Tajeram Mohabir