SO, finally, Speaker of Parliament, Raphael Trotman, has referred Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh to the Privileges Committee for what’s being claimed, by the parliamentary APNU/AFC Opposition, the Government’s wrongful expenditure of approximately G$4.6 billion not authorised by the National Assembly.Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall has already challenged the Speaker’s decision and referenced an earlier ruling by acting Chief Justice Ian Chang that questioned the right of a parliamentary Opposition to cut budgetary estimates of expenditure, as distinct from withholding support in the passage of an annual budget.
For his part, the Finance Minister remains cool and stoic in the performance of his duties. And, this past week he was differently pointing to areas of Guyana’s continued social and economic progress that’s consistent with international criteria for measuring human development.
For example, in sharing a presentation ceremony with the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Chisa Mikamai, Dr. Singh was quite pleased to observe that this country’s Human Development Index (HDI) for last year recorded “an unprecedented increase of 23.6 percent between 1980 and 2013.
The HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development, namely—a long and healthy life; access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
In sharp contrast to negative claims by the Government’s parliamentary opponents, the Finance Minister has explained that Guyana’s record of performance was one of “steady improvement,” as verified by the UNDP’s latest report.
Of course, the parliamentary parties remain blind to the progress being chalked up by Guyana and prefer to indulge in negative factors and sow social and political divisions.
The litany of hurdles they have thrown up to Guyana’s progress, include major development projects, in addition to creating uncertainties by their refusal to cooperate on the passage of crucial legislation, such as the Anti-money Laundering and Countering Terrorism Bill.
We await further developments from the Speaker’s decision to refer the Finance Minister to the National Assembly’s Privileges Committee.