Cabinet notes intrigues surrounding $5.7B financial consideration
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon has said that Cabinet took note of the “intrigues” surrounding the consideration of the Financial Bill on Government expenditure, that occurred during the recently ended 2011 fiscal year. “Cabinet’s attention was drawn to the continued reign of disquieted interventions being foisted on the governing party in the National Assembly,” he said.
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, last Friday, tabled the financial papers and indicated to the Speaker, Mr. Raphael Trotman, that he would like to have them considered at today’s sitting.
The two financial papers totalling, $2,240,901,071 and $3,471,047,823 respectively, were to cover expenditure met from the Contingencies Fund late last year.
In keeping with Government’s commitment to prudent financial management, all of the expenditure incurred was in pursuit of important national development objectives.
The National Assembly is being asked to approve the $5.7 billion spent from the Contingencies Fund, during the last quarter of 2011, amidst concerns raised by Opposition members that the monies were utilised illegally.
According to Luncheon, what is required during this process is for the House to give its authorisation for the spending by Government, in the stipulated period and not its approval for what is to be spent in 2012.
This is in keeping with Government’s legal requirements and must not be mistaken for budget approval, he maintained.
Parliament may make provision for the establishment of a Contingencies Fund and for authorising the minister responsible for finance to make advances from it, if he is satisfied that there is an urgent need for which no other provision exists.
Further, when any advance is made from the Contingencies Fund, a supplementary estimate shall, as soon as practicable, be laid before the National Assembly by the Prime Minister or any other minister designated by the President for the purpose of authorising the replacement of the amount so advanced.
The HPS said Cabinet members have “resolved to defend constitutionality” and preserve well established parliamentary traditions while responding, aggressively, to the intrigues of the Opposition.
Luncheon said Cabinet also took notice of the “novice speakers” trifling with parliamentary convention, particularly to disadvantage the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and the Opposition parties, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), with parliamentary behaviour which benefited, quite significantly, “from the speakers ill-advised novelties.”