Bishop Edghill clears the air on effects of budget cuts
MINISTER within the Ministry of Finance, Bishop Juan Edghill has cleared the air on issues and misconceptions surrounding the budget cuts and their impact on the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC). At a media conference at the Finance Ministry yesterday, the former Chairman of the ERC addressed the issue of the Opposition’s call for the reconstitution of the body.
“The only way there can be a reconstitution of the Ethnic Relations Commission is through the constitutional process, and that is not left to backroom dealing between the President and the leader of the Opposition; it is the entity that produces the commissioners and it is the parliament that must agree to the entities,” Edghill stated.
He holds firm to the view that it is time that the public become aware and every politician and political leader start representing the issue correctly to the public, and ensures that the constitutional provisions are funded so that there can be a reconstituted ERC.
Secondly, Minister Edghill addressed the perception in the public domain that the $99.4M proposed in the 2012 budget for the functioning of the Commission is an exorbitant amount, noting that it is rather a small amount in comparison to previous years.
Edghill asserted that the budget for the ERC was $92M. He told the media that the ERC has 23 members of staff.
He sought to give a breakdown of the complement of full time and part time staff, noting that the Commission has to hire part time monitors to observe political activities, and facilitators to conduct community meetings.
He disclosed that besides paying staff, the ERC is an entity that has to operate in all ten administrative regions of Guyana. In addition, investigators have to go to all regions on a rotating basis.
“The commission has to engage all of the entities and all of the constituencies scattered across the country; and if we go through the years of its existence, you would find this sum of $99.4M and you could read the annual reports of the ERC, and you will discover that some years the Commission spend in excess of $100M, made possible with additional funding from the UNDP, USAID and other agencies to support some of the programmes that we are doing,” according to Edghill.
Edghill insisted that the proposed $99.4M is not an unusually large sum, since it was less than what the ERC had spent in previous years.
He pointed to 2006, in the run-up to the elections, when the budget was in excess of $100M. He dismissed the perception that there is a hefty doling out of money for the commission in the 2012 budget.
He also addressed the issue of some staff members of the Commission who spoke to the leaders of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC).
Edghill made it clear that this was not a sanctioned activity of the ERC, but rather an initiative of some staff members who felt that their, jobs, future and security were threatened.
“Had I been the leader of the APNU or the AFC, and staff members of the ERC made request to meet with me to discuss budget cuts I would have declined.”
He contended that the ERC is supposed to be an independent institution; and if staff has to go to the Opposition or the government to plead or beg for their salaries, their independence will be compromised and questioned.
Edghill noted that, apart from the combined opposition cutting the budget to $1; it has successfully compromised the staff members of the ERC. He believes that such actions should be gravely condemned.
He said it should be made clear that there is nothing that the Ministry of Finance can do to provide money to an entity that the parliament has not approved.
Edghill said that he was advised that members of the Opposition would have told staff members that they should go to work and the government will find money to pay them.
He questioned where will the money come from, adding that there is no money to pay staff members as the parliament did not approve the proposed amount for the year 2012.
He opined that mischief is afoot, since the Opposition will be putting the government in a position to send the staff packing, since there is no money to pay them.
Edghill stressed that it should be made clear that the Opposition is the one responsible for putting them on the breadline.
He made it clear that the government has no intention of stymieing the work of a constitutional commission; instead the government is prepared to ensure that every such body functions in keeping with the law and fulfilling its mandate, and to provide the necessary funding from the consolidated funds.
“But if we don’t have that vote, we don’t have the money, so in essence, the future of the ERC is to be determined by the constitutional mechanism being put in place to reconstitute the commission by naming the commissioners and by parliament voting and appropriating monies to fund the commission”, Edghill said.
Until such time, one has to face the reality that $1 cannot pay staff and maintain a commission. At the moment, staff members are just sitting around. He said he is unsure how long that situation could continue.