…to hold talks with opposition parties
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon, has disclosed that the government is tallying the cuts in the various sectors in the national budget made by the parliamentary opposition which holds a combined one-seat majority. “Talks with the combined opposition parliamentary parties regarding the effects of the cuts that were made in the National Assembly during the consideration of the estimates and expenditure of the 2012 national budget have not started in a specific way,” Dr Luncheon disclosed.
Dr. Luncheon made this comment in response to the question posed by the media on whether there has been a tally in the various sectors affected by the cuts and on how many persons are likely to be removed,  shortly after the conclusion of his weekly post-cabinet media briefing on Thursday last.
According to the HPS, much of what is being done now is us trying to go in to the agencies and the impact and numbers to know what the shortfall is and what we need to look at.
“We have to get $60M a month for the contract workers in the Office of the President, 122 people are at risk of walking on the breadline, so each agency that is affected is compiling the information”, Luncheon told the media.
He opined that whenever the government and the opposition political parties sit to hold talks, they will be in a position to present facts and numbers as to what the cuts have caused based on studies conducted.
Dr.Luncheon was also asked to pronounce definitively on whether persons will indeed go on the breadline as a result of the cuts in the various sectors.
He responded that “if the appropriation for meeting the expenditure of these agencies is blocked then I cannot imagine , in a couple of days the Ministry of Finance will ordinarily be closing the books for payment of wages and salaries for me, in this office here, I’m certain if you are familiar with the language in the appropriation act the appropriation of funding for Cabinet, Defence Board, my Secretariat, the President’s Secretariat, the Press and Publicity  and Protocol Unit have all been reduced to one dollar,” the HPS declared.
He assured that the persons from those sectors will definitely be on the breadline and cannot imagine any other interpretation.
“I can assure you that efforts are being made that we are indeed addressing our minds to having a temporary or comprehensive resolution of these matters, but the clock is ticking”, he added.
He further explained that on May 8, the books for “pay changes” at the Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for the printing of cheques and transferring monies into the banks for public officers, will be closed. He was not too certain  whether any activity would be conducted with the few days left, that could reverse the closure of the books.
He said that there is no exaggeration and there are those who have made the cuts, hence contributing to the situation and in ingenious ways suggest that it is not going to happen.
He said there are those out there who believe that notwithstanding the decisions for the cuts in parliament the administration will find ways of getting around them and still maintain the level of expenditure that is not accommodated in the appropriation act of 2012.
“I think it reasonable to start out with what is real and what is indeed the outcome of the interventions, and not look at what we are hoping would occur, were we successful in diligent pursuit of an acceptable outcome”, the HPS added.