SOME $29.5M has been proposed for the Office of the Leader of the Opposition in the 2017 Estimates for Constitutional Agencies, an increase from the $15.7M which was allocated last year. The office of the Opposition Leader is grouped under the Parliament Office for which $1.5B has been recommended, with some $58M going towards meals and refreshments.
The estimates for the 15 constitutional agencies for 2017 total $11.3B with some $1.1B of this sum accounting for capital expenditure.
The constitutional agencies are the Parliament Office, the Office of the Auditor General, the Public/Police Service Commissions, the Teaching Service Commission, the Guyana Elections Commission, the Supreme Court of Judicature, the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, the Ethnic Relations Commission, the Judicial Service Commission, the Indigenous Peoples’ Commission, the Human Rights Commission, the Rights of the Child Commission and the Woman and Gender Equality Commission.
For the other constitutional agencies, some $738.4M has been proposed for the Audit Office; $90.5M for the Public/Police Service Commissions; $135.5M for the Teaching Service Commission; $5.3B for the Guyana Elections Commission; $1.7B for the Supreme Court of Judicature; $189.9M for the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions; $50.3M for the Office of the Ombudsman and $13.9M for the Public Service Appellate Tribunal.
In the estimates received by Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, some $119.4M has been proposed for the Ethnic Relations Commission.
According to the estimates, this increase in sum compared to previous years, is a result of the imminent appointments of chairman and commissioners and the anticipated employment of senior and other staff members for the functioning of the commission.
Some $15M has been proposed for the Judicial Service Commission; $32.9M for the Indigenous Peoples’ Commission; $64.9M for the Human Rights Commission; $96.6M for the Rights of the Child Commission; and $61.7M for the Women and Gender Equality Commission.
These agencies have been delinked from the normal budgetary allocations which were controlled by the Minister of Finance.
Even though the Constitution was amended in 2001 to extend independence to these agencies, the previous administration never changed the process to ensure that they were not forced to beg for finances.
The Alliance For Change (AFC) and the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) when in opposition had piloted amendments to the Constitution to add these agencies to the list of bodies that should get lumpsum allocations.
In 2013, APNU’s Carl Greenidge tabled a bill to add the agencies to a list for which monies should be given without direction from the Government. The PPP had voted against the move, and President Ramotar refused to give assent to the bill.