President Donald Ramotar yesterday said opposition involvement in crafting the national budget will not go beyond consultations, while insisting that it is his administration’s exclusive responsibility.
“I have offered them [APNU and AFC] consultations. They both agreed that they would send their persons to the Ministry of Finance to consult with [Minister of Finance Dr Ashni] Singh. As far as I am aware they have not done so but I have no intention of abdicating the responsibility of the government. This [budget] is government’s responsibility not Mr [David] Granger’s,” Ramotar told reporters at Office of the President, at his first press conference since being elected Head of State.
He was asked whether the administration would be giving any consideration to APNU Chairman Granger’s indication that the opposition coalition did not only want to be involved in consultations on the budget, but in the actual crafting of the budget itself.
Following the convening of Parliament on Thursday, Ramotar said immediately ahead is the national budget, which he hoped would be ready shortly to be presented. He added that since he has been president, he has been focusing on keeping the economy going, looking at the main areas and meeting some of the investors that are commencing projects in Guyana.
Government will, in the course of its activities, review all major projects, he also said. “Of course, these things are going to be under constant review. These are things that are dynamic. I have been having several meetings on all of these issues since I have been in office. We are looking at all of these things,” he said.
On the issue of tax reform, Ramotar said that the committee that he has established to look at tax review is working and will complete its work in another two to three months. However, he was unsure whether the work of the committee will have any bearing on the budget, since it more than likely will not be ready in time.
Ramotar last month appointed a three-member panel, comprising chartered accountant Ronald Alli, economist Dr Cyril Solomon and businessman Clifford Reis, to review the tax system. Opposition leaders, however, said that the administration should have consulted with them before setting up the panel, particularly since they have been part of the lobby for comprehensive reform. Opposition, the business community and others have long called for tax reform, including a reduction of the 16% Value-Added Tax (VAT).
Meanwhile, Ramotar yesterday reiterated that the APNU and AFC collaboration on electing Raphael Trotman as Speaker, against the PPP/C’s wishes, resulted in the loss of “a good opportunity” for the parties to cooperate with each other.
“It has become a norm and a practice for the ruling party to get the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker goes to the opposition. We have stuck with that. Even when we had the majority over the combined opposition we stuck by that position and we thought that that position would have been kept going,” he said, echoing sentiments by other government spokespersons on the issue.
Ramotar added that the PPP/C’s nomination of former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran was based on the notion that he was a tested person, and is quite known. “He has conducted the business of the Parliament in a very professional way. I am very proud of him and for being a colleague of his,” he said. “He himself had a lot of praise from the opposition for the way that he conducted the work of the National Assembly and therefore I thought that he was the best person to be the Speaker of the National Assembly, someone who would be fair and professional and conduct the business very well.”
He added that the present situation goes against the practice in parliamentary democracies as both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are from the opposition parties. “But we have to go on with our work in the Parliament itself, we have to pass our laws, we have to conduct the business of the country in the Parliament. That is how we will work towards ensuring that the work… gets done,” he said.
Asked why the government did not put forward a nominee for the position of Deputy Speaker, he said that it was because the government did not want to depart from parliamentary tradition. “That is the tradition that exists in democratic parliaments around the world,” he noted.
Although stung by the opposition’s decision on the Speaker, Ramotar said he is willing to be very inclusive in his approach to the opposition.
When asked about opposition inclusion in the Cabinet, he, however, said that he did not think it conducive just after the elections to have members of the opposition parties in the Cabinet. “As long as the opposition shows some inclination that they are ready to work with me, I would be ready to work with them. I think for inclusive government to work, there needs to be some level of [dependability] on each other’s word. We have to build a lot of trust in this situation,” he explained.
However, he said the APNU and AFC collaboration certainly did not help the atmosphere for possible tripartite cooperation. “It doesn’t help at all because we were sitting down and talking and then two parties going behind our backs… I think it has become bad faith and it doesn’t help to create the atmosphere for cooperation, but we will see how it goes,” he added. Ramotar yesterday also dismissed the complaints of the opposition parties that they were not given enough notice of the commencement of the Tenth Parliament and said during his discussions with them in December he indicated the second or third week in January. Many of the members of the opposition indicated that they wanted to leave the country on holiday and therefore would not have been available for the commencement of the sittings, he said.
“They said to me then that many of the members that they had identified for Parliament wanted to go on holiday. One member had some personal problems and wanted to go abroad. So I gave them the assurance that I will not convene the Parliament in December and at the same time I told them that I am looking at the second or third week in January,” he said.
“So I don’t think it is totally true to say that [I did not notify them]. We spoke about that and I told them to be ready in the second or third week in January,” he added.
