-$$ for NCN, GINA rejected again
The National Assembly in the wee hours of today approved Financial Papers 1 and 2/2012 with the Opposition rejecting a number of items and the few that saw approval were subject to rigorous scrutiny, like the sum of $5.3 billion for a new Guyana Power and Light Wartsila power plant.
With regard to Financial Paper 1/2012, the items rejected by the Opposition include some which would have been cut from the National Budget in an historic move earlier this year and which were returned to the House for a second chance. Heading the list of rejected items was an allocation of $211.5 million for the National Communi-cations Network (NCN) and Government Information Agency (GINA).
The Opposition then voted down the sum of $22.6 million for expenditure on wages and salaries for contracted employees under Office of the President Presidential Advisory and other services. In like manner, the Opposition voted against an allocation of $11.3 million as expenditure incurred in relation to climate change consultancy and legal fees. The Opposition also rejected the arguments that the Minister of Finance gave in support of provisions of subsidies of $224.4 million for the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), Ethnic Relations Commis-sion (ERC) and State Planning Secretariat and thus voted against them.
Not approved also were allocations labelled as expenditure for developmental, humanitarian and other activities in the sum of $21.6 million and a sum of $15 million as a capital grant for acquisition of equipment both of which fell under the Office of the President.
In Financial Paper 2/2012, an allocation for contracted employees under the Office of the President in the amount of $127.3 million fell by the way of the Opposition scissors, as did an allocation for the payment in relation to climate change consultancies and legal fees in the amount of $68.6 million.
The sum of $27 million under the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for the provision of meals for the conduct of Claims and Objections in 2012 was rejected by the Opposition as was an allocation for the payment of a stipend to monitoring groups, distribution of ID cards, honoraria for permanent staff and payment to temporary staff in 2012.
The amount of $429 million for the Citizens Security project under the Ministry of Home Affairs was rejected by the Opposition.
The debate was heavily weighted towards the intended purchase of a new generator for the Guyana Power and Light as the Opposition resisted the explanations about the need for the capital investments. Opposition member Carl Greenidge rejected the arguments that the power company did not foresee at the beginning of the year the need to have an additional 26 megawatts of power. He said that the Government could come with a similar request in a few months and say that they want another generator.
The House also approved the sum of $1 billion which was cut from the $6 billion subsidy to GPL during the budget debates.
After a series of exchanges between Greenidge and Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, the Speaker adjourned the sitting to allow the members of the House to familiarise themselves with correspondence that had passed between the Finance Minister and Greenidge one day prior, setting out the explanation in some details as to why the expenditures were necessary. Consideration of the papers later resumed after other matters were dealt with.
During the consideration of the allocations for NCN, Khemraj Ramjattan of the Alliance For Change (AFC) asked whether government will make public the report into the investigation of NCN which saw persons being sent home.
In response Prime Minister Hinds said that he is not aware of that report. But he said that in due course the government will say something in that matter.
Minister Singh said that the report on that matter was one that the Audit Office commissioned and that agency must be the one to release the report to the public. However, Moses Nagamootoo of the AFC stated that the Office of the President had commissioned the investigation. “They do not want to reveal the report. We will not permit taxpayers’ money to go down the drain,” he said.
Minister Singh said resources are required to facilitate the discharge of presidential functions. He was answering a question from Odinga Lumumba, one in a slew of questions from members of the government to members of the government. Lumumba had asked how the cuts of the budget will affect the administration.
At the time of the consideration of the allocations to GPL, Nagamootoo asked when it was that GPL would report on its progress with regards to losses that the company suffers. He noted that the subsidy GPL was seeking was to help reduce losses.
PM Hinds said that GPL has been reducing losses. He said that because of the tight ship the company is running as a result of the constraints, some capital spending would have had to be deferred. He explained that there is justification for a tariff increase however the company is not looking in this direction just yet. “GPL has been holding tariffs since 2008 at $64 per kilowatt hour,” he said.
Ramjattan asked how much electricity has Skeldon contributed to the national grid. This question the PM asked to be directed to Guysuco.
The debate on the financial papers started at around 2.30 pm yesterday and concluded at around 12.15 this morning. A total of around five hours were spent considering the two papers.
