Government has moved to the National Assembly to restore some of the allocations cut from this year’s budget, including subsidies for the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL), the state-media agencies and salaries for contracted workers at Office of the President (OP).
Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh on Thursday tabled two financial papers for almost $14 billion in expenditure, including funds to cover new spending, like the increase in old age pensions.
Financial papers 1/2012 and 2/2012 will come up for debate next Thursday.
Almost $21 billion was cut from the National Budget by the parliamentary opposition earlier in the year, including wages and salaries for contracted workers of OP, over a lack of transparency and accountability in the expenditure. The government later moved to restore the cut funds through an action in the High Court. Although finding that the National Assembly did not have the power to cut the budget, acting Chief Justice Ian Chang last month, in an interim ruling, said the court could not restore the funds, except for allocations to the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) to perform its constitutional duties.
Among the allocations sought by government is $127.39 million for the provision of payment of wages and salaries to contracted employees under OP – Presidential Advisory (Cabinet and other services). An allocation of $68.6 million for the provision for payment in relation to climate change consultancies and legal fees is also being sought for OP.
A provision for OP in the amount of $170 million for the development of information technology and $73.3 million for the provision of developmental, humanitarian and other activities is also being sought. Government is also seeking as well to get back for OP the provisions cut in the amount of $211.5 million, representing subsidies for the Government Information Agency (GINA) and the National Communications Network (NCN) and $22.6 million as wages and salaries for contracted employees.
The financial paper also included an amount of $1 billion as replenishment of the cut subsidy for the GPL and allocations in the amount of $224.4 million axed from the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU), the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) and the State Planning Secretariat.
The sum of $1.974 billion is being sought for the Ministry of Finance for the provision of low carbon development initiatives, an allocation of $116.9 million for the Ministry of Agriculture for the Conservancy Adaptation Project and $132.5 million for the Agricultural Export Diversification Project.
Also, an allocation in the amount of $84.7 million is being sought for the Ministry of Public Works for administration and management and an allocation in the amount of $4.8 million related to the Georgetown – Lethem road. An allocation in the amount of $856 million is being sought for the Ministry of Education of for its Education For All Fast Track Initiative.
An allocation of $27 million is being sought for the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom), to cover the provision of refreshments and meals for the conduct of the Claims and Objections process in 2012. A provision in the amount of $500 million as payment to temporary staff and monitoring groups, to cover distribution of ID cards, honoraria for permanent staff and payment for temporary staff in 2012 is also being sought for Gecom.
Among the new expenditure sought is the sum of $5,330,000,000 billion for the acquisition of 26 megawatt power plant under the Office of the Prime Minister’s Electrification Programme.
A provision of $635 million is, meanwhile, being sought for the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security to meet the additional costs associated with the increase in old age pension from $8,100 per month to $10,000 per month. This increase was announced after meetings between government and the opposition after the original increase announced in the budget drew criticism.
For the community roads improvement project, under the Ministry of Housing and Water, government is seeking an allocation of $500 million, while it seeks $331.5 million for the Georgetown Sanitation Improvement Programme. An allocation of $207.2 million is also being sought for the ministry’s Water Supply Rehabilitation in Linden.
An allocation of $134 million is being sought for the Health Ministry to provide for additional works on its warehouse, and $146 million for the Specialty Hospital Project, which has attracted intense opposition scrutiny.
In addition, $429 million is being sought for the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Citizen Security Programme and $319 million for the Ministry of Legal Affairs’ Justice Improvement Programme.
