FINANCE Minister Dr Ashni Singh is relying on constitutional grounds and rulings of the Court to initiate, from today, an exercise to restore funds from the 2014 National Budget that were voted down by the combined Opposition in the National Assembly.
“The Minister of Finance addressed Cabinet on his resort to the use of restoration of expenditure beyond that which was voted, that (which) was appropriated; and indeed, it was the focus of his presentation and the basis for the use of the restoration of the appropriations,” Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon told reporters yesterday.
Speaking at his usual post-Cabinet press briefing at Office of the President, in Georgetown, Dr Luncheon explained that the restoration resort extends beyond the Office of the President (OP), because there were eight other instances, other than the two at OP, when the Parliamentary Opposition withheld its approval of appropriations for budget agencies.
Dr Luncheon explained that during the Committee of Supply, selected expenditure of selected budget agencies was not approved, and so the administration’s restoration exercise specifically addresses those omissions when expenditure subsequently exceeded what has been approved. Dr Luncheon informed that the restoration exercises would take place for the rest of the fiscal year.
“So, indeed, it is more than likely possible that each and every one of those areas, those budget agencies whose appropriations were not authorised, would be attended to by the Finance Minister,” Dr Luncheon disclosed.
Every act of restoration by the minister carries with it a constitutional obligation for its timely presentation to Parliament, and Dr Luncheon pointed out that the minister is not constrained to a single act in his restoration functions, abilities, powers and authorities.
“The reference to constitutional and the court rulings should not be a novelty. The constitution specifically addresses expenditure and shortages, inadequacy for agencies in discharging their work programme in any fiscal year; and the constitution does offer remedies that we have collectively termed restoration; but, of course, it carries with it the specifics of the constitutional remedies, and that is to say that restoration indeed refers to a range of constitutional remedies to provide for expenditure that has not been appropriated in any fiscal year.
“It is clear that the constitutional court has ruled on this subject, and it is equally clear that the constitutional court rulings have been used by this administration, by the Finance Minister, to undo the unconstitutional acts that have been perpetrated by the Opposition,” Dr Luncheon remarked.
He said the restoration exercise is a recurrent one that will take until the end of the year, and will include the Specialty Hospital and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
In his opening comments about the resort to restoration, Dr Luncheon referred to some who could not care less about the consequences of their actions, specifically about the consequences on others, and not on the environment.
“The parliamentary Opposition did not vote one penny for the public servants at OP for the year 2014. The consequences were apparently of no concern to the Opposition.
“There are those who care less about honouring and discharging obligations that are constitutional; obligations that are administrative; and particularly, obligations that are moral. The parliamentary Opposition did not vote a penny for the main capital programme at OP. By so doing, they affected OP’s ability to address its constitutional, and its executive functions, in addition, of course, to its moral obligations.
“The consequences apparently were of no concern to the APNU/AFC Opposition political parties,” Dr Luncheon said.
Some of the subvention agencies under the Office of the President that were affected include: Government Information Agency, National Communications Network, Presidential Guard Service, Civil Defence Commission, Guyana Office for Investment, Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Guyana Energy Agency, Integrity Commission, and Office of the Commissioner of Information.
The 2014 Appropriation Act was passed in April in the Parliament subsequent to the $37.4B cut from the $220B National budget. (Telesha Ramnarine)