Alliance For Change (AFC) executive Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday expressed disappointment that Government has not set a meeting to allow Opposition parties to discuss the national budget and said he would not be surprised if the Minister of Finance presents the budget at the next sitting of Parliament.
According to Ramjattan, the AFC has not had any word, formal or otherwise, on the next meeting to discuss the budget and time is quickly running out. Parliament is due to meet on March 15 to consider the fate of Financial Papers 7 and 8/2011 after a recent debate in the Commit-tee of Supply saw Financial Paper 7/2011 being approved with amendments and Financial Paper 8/2011 being rejected by the Opposition for not being in accordance with the provisions of the Fiscal Management and Account-ability Act 2003 with regard to disclosures.
Similarly, former Finance Minister under the PNC, Carl Greenidge did not receive any response to his letter of March 8, a follow up to a similar letter on February 8, seeking a date for the meeting among the three parties to discuss the budget.
Finance Minister Ashni Singh could not be contacted by Stabroek News yesterday for comment on this matter.
Ramjattan said that his party was hoping that the meetings on the budget would have resulted in the AFC’s concerns being addressed by including a reduction in VAT, increases in public sector wages and a reduction in the tolls of the Berbice Bridge in the budget. But he said the Government seems hell bent on going it alone, saying that work on the 2012 budget began since around August 2011.
“They have been breaching the terms of the tripartite talks and then have been accusing us of breaching them. It has left a bitter taste in my mouth,” he said in a telephone interview with Stabroek News, adding that he was disgusted by the recent posturing of the Government.
Further, he said that the Government has not been serious about any tax reform and this was demonstrated when the Government named a three person committee to examine tax reform. He said that from his information this committee is yet to meet and discuss anything.
On the continuation of the tripartite talks to settle on the composition of the various committees in Parliament – set for today – Ramjattan said that the party would be proceeding apace with this. But he said the AFC is maintaining its position that the composition should be four persons for the Government, four for APNU and one for the AFC. The Government wants ten-member committees – five for Government, four for APNU and one for the AFC.
At a tripartite meeting on February 3, 2012 it was decided that opposition members Greenidge and Winston Jordan, on behalf of APNU and Ramjattan and Gerhard Ramsaroop on behalf of the AFC, would meet with Minister Singh and Irfaan Ali on Budget 2012. The budget must be presented to the House no later than March 30, 2012 and must be passed no later than April 29, 2012.
In the letter to Singh, Greenidge reminded him of his earlier letter dated February 8, 2012 seeking a date for the meeting and suggesting an agenda.
Greenidge had earlier expressed a concern that the parties would not be able to discuss anything of substance given the short time left. According to Greenidge, people would be thinking that the President made a commitment to hold the budget talks which did not come off because of the opposition.
