The opposition parties will pursue efforts to ensure that government’s portion of the Guyana Lottery Company’s revenues is paid into the Consolidated Fund notwithstanding the advice from former Attorney General Charles Ramson that there is no legal basis for the revenue to be paid into the Fund.
In a recent column in the Stabroek News, former Auditor-General, Anand Goolsarran had noted that the retention and use of the proceeds of the Lotto Funds without Parliament’s approval remains a source of public concern. “Some are of the view that the proceeds should have been paid over to the Consolidated Fund and that Parliament should decide on how the money should be spent, and not the Executive. The Government, on the other hand, argued that there is no requirement to pay over the proceeds and that the expenditure incurred is subject to an audit by the Auditor General,” he wrote.
“Putting aside all the legal ramifications, on a matter of principle, all public moneys should be deposited into the Consolidated Fund as the taxpayers’ fund, and no public expenditure should be incurred without the consent of the elected representatives of the citizens of Guyana, that is, Parliament,” he said. “If the laws are not clear on these matters, then let us amend them to make them clearer so that the above fundamental principle in public finance and administration is respected and observed.”
The non-payment of the revenue into the Consolidated Fund has been subject to persistent criticisms from the Auditor General over the years as well as from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament. However, Ramson was quoted in the 2009 Auditor General’s report as saying that “There is therefore no legal obligation to transfer moneys [from the Lottery Fund] into the Consolidated Fund. This fund is however, subject to an audit by the Auditor General under the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act 2003.” Goolsarran has described the advice as flawed. AFC leader, Khemraj Ramjattan on Friday also slammed Ramson’s advice as “erroneous.”
“It is not based on the constitution at all, neither is it based on the modern approach on how you deal with matters under the Constitution,” he said. “It was a primary consideration of our constitutional provisions dealing with revenues… that all state revenues should go to the Consolidated Fund,” he said.
The AFC leader said that the party might have to move a motion in parliament to see action. “That is one of the motions that we may very well move in the next session,” he asserted. He said that Parliament as the primary scrutinizing institution in the land must be in a position to know what is being spent, “what is in the till and how they will spend it.”
An additional course of action, he suggested, is taking the matter to court. In 2010, political activist Desmond Trotman sued the government over its failure to pay monies obtained from the GLC into the Consolidated Fund saying the current practice including disbursements without parliamentary approval is illegal.
Ramjattan pointed out that the AFC’s parliamentarians have been calling on government at every budget debate to put the money into the Consolidated Fund. “The new Attorney General ought to make sure the principle and spirit of the constitutional provision is given effect to,” he said. Chairman of the main opposition, APNU, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine also said that bringing the revenue garnered from the lottery into the Consolidated Fund “would be consistent with what we are trying to do.” He recalled the motion in the National Assembly which also included an aspect dealing with the lotto funds. “We intend to continue to press on this matter,” he said suggesting a motion or a bill to compel government to do what is intended. He said that with regard to issues of accountability and transparency “we will do everything we possibly can” in this tenth parliament to push this forward.
In June, the parliamentary opposition used their majority to pass a motion calling for the government to present a report on the sale of national assets by the holding company National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL). The motion asked that the National Assembly require the Minister of Finance to lay before it a report on all the extra-budgetary agencies, including the Lottery Company and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, all the outstanding reports and quarterly audited accounts as required by the law.
It also asked that the relevant minister/s ensure that all agencies authorised to have extra-budgetary funds under the Act and with outstanding reports as at 14 February, 2012, be immediately required to pay into the Consolidated Fund all balances held in their accounts and a statement of such payments be submitted to the National Assembly on or before 30 June, 2012.
Recently, Ramjattan said that Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh could be faced with contempt proceedings in the National Assembly as they had heard that the government is not going to abide by the motion.