…Granger wants to avoid another budget ‘collision’
With the parliamentary recess officially ending on October 10, the opposition political parties are refocusing on their legislative agenda with a number of matters on their plate including amendments to the Broadcast Act.
The first sitting of the National Assembly for this session, following a two-month break, could either be on October 11 or October 18, Stabroek News was told.
Leader of APNU, David Granger said that the four priority issues for the coalition in the upcoming session will be local government legislation, public broadcasting, public security and public finances specifically the budget. He also recalled that there is some work outstanding from the last session.
Granger recalled the “damage” done to local government bodies by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and referred to the removal of the Kwakwani Neighbourhood Democratic Council and the installation of an Interim Management Committee which was not accepted by residents, among others. He said that they want a move on local government legislation and this must be in place before any local government elections.
In terms of public broadcasting, he told Stabroek News that they want some modifications of the power of the Minister of Information as enshrined in the Broadcast Act since it seems to be excessive. He said that the coalition also wants to liberalise the public information system and also ensure that there is less intervention by the government.
With regards to public finances, Granger said that he had requested that the government re-engage the opposition in a tripartite budget committee to avoid the “collision” experienced in the last budget when $21B was cut by APNU and the AFC. “I have written and they have not acceded to my request to establish a tripartite budget committee,” he noted. He said that such a committee is crucial and referred to the “collision” between the government and the opposition with regards to the provisions in the last national budget and said that “we don’t want to repeat that.”
In terms of public security, Granger said that government and the police have to be more accountable.
Meantime, AFC leader, Khemraj Ramjattan told Stabroek News that the National Executive Committee of the party last week met and agreed on their legislative agenda for the next two years. He said that among the Bills that they will bring are amendments to the Broadcast Act, political party financing legislation and whistle-blower legislation. They will also advocate for the reduction of the Value Added Tax through either a motion or Bill.
Ramjattan noted that the party had made some commitments to the public and is fulfilling these. He said that also of great interest to him is getting the Economic Services Committee functioning so they can start investigations into several areas including the operations of NICIL as well as the National Insurance Scheme and the Guyana Sugar Corporation. These issues are of importance, he stressed.
Ramjattan said that the AFC also wants responses from the government with regards to several issues including the progress made by the committee which was set up to review taxes. “We need to ask the Finance Minister a couple of questions on that,” he said.
The AFC leader also noted that there are some items left over from the last session including his motion seeking to implement the recommendations of the Sir Michael Davies report to make parliament function more efficiently and these will be looked at immediately upon the resumption of parliament.
He also pointed out that there are motions on corporal punishment and gay rights and the NEC has decided that the party’s parliamentarians will vote on their conscience. “These are major issues of a modern world,” he said adding that they would like to hear the views of the parliamentarians. “They (NEC) have decided unanimously that it will be a conscience vote,” he said.
