–after House reconvenes

THE Parliamentary Privileges Committee, to which Dr. Ashni Singh has been referred, was to have met today at the Public Buildings at 11:00am, but that meeting has been rescheduled to sometime after the National Assembly reconvenes.

Parliament Office officials told the Guyana Chronicle that seeing that the House goes into recess on August 10, and given that there will be no meeting today, the next date will be decided on after the recess, which ends on October 10.
According to the Parliament Office, the cancelation of today’s meeting was as a result that all members on the Committee were unavailable for the scheduled time.
The Motion to send Dr. Singh to the Privileges Committee was moved by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament (MP), Mr. Carl Greenidge, who is claiming that the Finance Minister had breached the constitutional powers governing the spending of public funds.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Raphael Trotman subsequently ruled in favour of referring Dr Singh to the Committee, since, in his view, sufficient grounds existed in support of Greenidge’s Motion. Greenidge relied on Article 217 of the Constitution as the basis of support for his Motion.
The Combined Opposition is contending that Minister Singh violated the law by spending monies that were not approved of during the 2014 Budget debates, as reflected in a $4.6B Statement of Excess (also referred to as a financial paper) he has tabled in the National Assembly on June 19 last. That financial paper restored monies that were disapproved by the combined Opposition.
Included in the $4.6B Paper is the full return of $6.1B to the Office of the President. The allocation, for current expenditures, included monies for the Government Information Agency (GINA) and the National Communications Network (NCN). Also, the sum of $450M has been returned to the President’s office for capital expenditures under the Administrative Services category. A portion of the capital expenditures under the Ministry of Finance’s policy and administration has also been returned, and includes $424M for the Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) programmes; $225M for the University of Guyana’s student loan funds; and $67M for the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). The Amerindian Development Fund’s $303M allocation has been returned to the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, as has the $359.8M for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA)’s expansion project.
The $4.6B Statement of Excess is the fourth since the start of the 10th Parliament and to date, of the four Statements of Excess have been tabled, 58 per cent of what was considered has been approved by the combined Opposition.
The Statement reflects spending from the Contingency Fund, hence the submission of a Statement of Excess.

LEGAL SPENDING
Responding to the furor over spending, the Finance Minister maintains his contention that all public spending advanced by the current Administration has been done within the stated legal parameters, and can withstand any level of scrutiny.
Section 218 (3) of the Constitution states that: “If in respect of any financial year, it is found: (a) that the amount appropriated by the Appropriation Act for any purpose is insufficient or that a need has arisen for expenditure for a purpose for which no amount has been appropriated by that Act;
“Or (b) that any moneys have been expended for any purpose in excess of the amount appropriated for that purpose by the Appropriation Act or for a purpose for which no amount has been appropriated by that Act, a supplementary estimate or, as the case may be, a statement of excess showing the sums required or spent shall be laid before the Assembly by the Prime Minister or any other Minister designated by the President.”
Also, the Parliamentary Standing Order 78 (1), which deals with supplementary estimates of expenditure and statements of excess.
The Order states that: “If in respect of any financial year it is found:- [a] that the amount appropriated by the Appropriation Act for any purpose is insufficient or that a need has arisen for Expenditure for a purpose for which amount has been appropriated by that Act;
“Or [b] that any moneys have been expended for any purpose in excess of the amount appropriated for that purpose by the Appropriation Act or for a purpose for which no amount has been appropriated by that Act;
“Or [c] that advances have been made from the Contingencies Fund for Expenditure for which no other provision exists, a Minister may present a Paper with the Supplementary Estimate or, as the case may be, the Statement of Excess showing the sums required or spent and that Paper shall be ordered to be printed and shall stand referred to the Committee of Supply without question put and shall be appointed to be considered on a day to be named by the Minister presenting the Paper but not earlier than one (1) day after that on which the Paper was presented.”
In addition to the AG, the Finance Minister also maintains the contention that all public spending advanced by the current Administration has been done within the stated legal parameters and can withstand any level of scrutiny.

GO TO COURT
Additionally, Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, in a prior interview with the Guyana Chronicle has indicated that a move to a court of law will be the better forum to address the expressed concern of an alleged “unconstitutional” act.
Nandlall surmised that with the majority representation on the Committee of Privileges being MPs representing the combined Opposition, there is a greater inclination to move to the Committee, rather than to the court, which is charged with the interpretation of the laws of Guyana and pronouncement of alleged breaches.
AG said, “There is a fundamental challenge, which this Committee of Privileges will face. It is a fact of public notoriety that the joint Opposition enjoys a majority on all committees in the National Assembly.
“I have no doubt that the Privileges Committee will be similarly constituted. Leading members of both Opposition parties have openly and publicly made statements to the effect that Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh has violated the law and the constitution.
“Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, Leader of the Alliance For Change, has gone a step further. He alleges that the Minister has committed criminal offences. He has lodged a report with the police. These are the very political parties from whose membership this committee will draw its members.”
The AG pointed out that members of the combined Opposition have already made public statements that definitely pronounce on the actions of the Finance Minister.
“These very political parties have already, in their public statements, made a finding of guilt against the Minister. How they will be able to bring an impartial mind to bear in the deliberations of the committee, in my view, will be a legal impossibility,” he said.
The political parties are to agree on a date for a meeting of the Privileges Committee.

(By Vanessa Narine)