Dear Editor,
Many have raised harsh and uncalled-for criticisms against President Bharrat Jadgeo and his government, arguing that only Parliament has the right to approve the distribution of ‘scrutineering funds’; and that any non-parliamentary approval would be unconstitutional.
Half of the ‘scrutineering funds’ was intended for the government and the residue for the opposition parties; and so since the opposition parties could not reach some sort of agreement on the method for distributing the funds among themselves, the ‘scrutineering funds’ graduated to becoming an unreal issue.
Let me make it clear that these ‘scrutineering funds’ were not appropriated through Parliament, in terms of Parliament making a specific appropriation for scrutineers. The executive exercised its discretion to fund scrutineers through a Cabinet decision; and so the funds were provided out of the State’s benevolence.
Under these circumstances, the Minister of Finance could exercise his discretion to determine the distribution of such funds. And at any rate, Parliament will still have to appropriate these funds at some end point.
Also, we should note that the ‘scrutinizing process’ is not part of GECOM’s mandate.
Yours faithfully,
Prem Misir
Head, State Information Sector
