ONE of the two judges assigned by Chief Justice (ag) Ian Chang to hear the appeal filed by Opposition Leader David Granger in the 2012 Budget cuts case was absent yesterday in the Full Court.

Justice James Bovell Drakes, as well as Attorney-at-law, Basil Williams, who filed the appeal, were absent for the appeal that was scheduled for 14:00hrs, and for which notices were issued.
The hearing is now scheduled to take place on Monday, September 30, at 9:15hrs.
On June 19, Justice Ian Chang took the decision to strike out the Opposition Leader as well as Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh as defendants in the 2012 Budget cuts case, on the basis that, as members of Parliament, the constitution provides immunity. Granger indicated that he would appeal the case.
On July 6, as the case came up for another hearing, the Chief Justice announced his intention to allow the appeal to be concluded before he continued.
On July 18, 2012, in a preliminary ruling, the Chief Justice had stated that the National Assembly has no power under the Constitution to reduce the National Estimates when they are presented for approval. The ruling stated that in relation to the National Estimates, the National Assembly “performs a gate-keeping function, a power of disapproval is not contemplated by the Constitution.”
The 2012 Budget was slashed by $20.9B, and as a result there were no financial allocations made for several government agencies, and the jobs of state employees were on the line. Among the agencies and projects affected were the Government Information Agency (GINA); National Communications Network (NCN); Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC); State Planning Secretariat, Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS); Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM); Office of the President; Office of the Prime Minister; ICT development – One Laptop Per Family; Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU); and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).
This year, the Opposition repeated their actions, cutting about $31B from the 2013 National Budget, effectively stymieing vital and transformative projects. Among the agencies and projects affected are GPL, with $5.2B cut from its $10.2B allocation; Ministry of Public Works’ entire Transport Programme’s allocation of $5.6B; Specialty Hospital Project’s $1.2B; and $19B of the LCDS programme’s $20B allocation. GINA and the NCN also had their allocations cut.
In the case of the LCDS, the Amaila Falls hydro power project, Amerindian Development Fund, Amerindian land titling and demarcation, Cunha canal rehabilitation, Biodiversity centre, Micro Enterprise fund and institutional strengthening were affected.