The walkout was preceded by an intense 15-minute interrogation of Ali by members of the opposition, who queried the allocation for housing development, during the consideration of financial papers presented under the Supplementary Appropriation (No.3 of 2009) Bill 2010, which totals $8,245,758,278.
The $4 billion was being sought in addition to the $430 million which was originally allocated for housing development in the 2009 budget. Ali stressed that the money was being used to facilitate the government’s plan to provide 17,000 house lots to Guyanese in need, in the various regions of the country. PNCR-1G MP Winston Murray, however, called on him to issue a detailed project profile outlining how the money would be spent. Murray argued that the failure to do so subtracts from transparency and accountability in the National Assembly. He further pointed out that during the budget estimates a detailed profile was provided, showing how the $430 million would have been spent.
Quizzed as to how much of the $4 billion had already been released to his ministry, Ali said that the resources sought were being used to execute the government’s housing initiative. Murray cited Article 219 of the constitution, which says parliament is only permitted to expend resources up to four months into a succeeding year based on the presumption that the budget comes into being within that period. He accused the minister of abusing the budgetary process and the National Assembly, saying he clearly had “no contemplation or ability of spending the money” before the budget.
At one point during the interrogation, Ali stopped replying to questions raised by the opposition members, which incensed Murray, who asked Acting Speaker Clarissa Riehl to note the situation. AFC MP Khemraj Ramjattan contended that the minister’s actions to spend money before it was approved constituted an offence under Section 85 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act and that he could be sentenced to imprisonment. “Lock him up! Lock him up!” some opposition MPs shouted.
Shortly after, the opposition members exited the parliamentary chamber. The walkout was led by the Alliance for Change (AFC) members and Opposition Leader Robert Corbin and the PNCR-1G MPs soon followed. (The other opposition party, GAP/ROAR, was not represented at yesterday’s sitting.)
AFC leader Raphael Trotman slammed Ali for his conduct, describing his actions as “a rank display of disregard and high contempt for which this minister and his government hold the parliamentary process, the laws and constitution and the people of Guyana.”
Ramjattan, meanwhile, said he plans to write to the Director of Public Prosecutions about the actions of Ali as well as those of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and the Public Service Minister Dr Jennifer Westford, who he opined had also infringed the law. Westford, he said, ought to inform the National Assembly at the very sitting after she had acquired $15 million from the Consolidated Fund to charter a flight to send students to Cuba. She said that this was done in October.
Meanwhile, Corbin said of the situation: “It was rather unexpected the kind of insult which I think the parliament was treated to this afternoon, where a minister of parliament cannot account for $4 billion and feels no obligation to the National Assembly to give an explanation.” He added that during his 30 years of parliamentary experience, he had never witnessed such “arrogance.” Asked if the party would seek to have the minister appear before the Committee of Privileges, he said it would be discussed.
Ali, meanwhile, stood by his actions and criticised the opposition parties. “I must say that we are very disappointed at the actions of the opposition to walk out on a provision that seek (sic) to make more money available, more resources available for development of more house lots for our people. They basically walked out on a vote to make resources available to provide additional house lots for the people of this country,” he told reporters after the sitting.
Asked about his reluctance to respond to the questions raised about the particular projects being undertaken and for a timeline for these projects, he said he made it clear that the $4 billion will be utilised by the Central Housing and Planning Authority to provide the 17,000 house lots in various regions in the country. He said that this was part of an ongoing programme by the government and said that in some cases it would take time since the government has to acquire land.
Earlier in the day, the opposition members grilled Prime Minister Hinds about the $353, 548,617 that was identified for the “provision for the installation of fibre optic cables and terminal equipment.”
Murray queried whether this was a necessary expenditure, especially in the light of recent initiative by GT&T to bring a second fibre optic cable to Guyana. Hinds said this was done to address the issue of redundancy and also to assist the government with its plans to implement e-governance. Murray asked for Hinds to provide a feasibility study for the project.
Ramjattan meanwhile queried if a Chinese company was in any way involved in this initiative and whether it was intended to compete with GT&T. Hinds staunchly rejected both suggestions.
Hinds also came under fire for the $1 billion set aside for additional expenditure for an electrification programme. He disclosed that the money has been given to GPL and that it will be disbursed as necessary. Murray had said that if the money had been disbursed before it would have been an infringement of the law.
The Supplementary Appropriation Bill covers Financial Papers No.5 and No.6 of 2009 which were tabled by Finance Minister’s Dr Ashni Singh during last Thursday’s sitting. Financial paper No.5 covered money spent between December 8 and December 31 of last year which amounted to $1,449,775,969. Financial Paper No.6 proposes that an additional $6,795,982,309 be approved for Capital Estimates for the period ended December 31, 2009.
