Despite a controversial ruling by Chief Justice Ian Chang that the National Assembly did not have the power to cut the 2012 budget, the AFC is sticking to the position that the opposition-majority body can make deletions and will do so if necessary for this year’s budget.
The party also intends to appeal the CJ’s ruling if it is made final.
Last April, the opposition effected $20 billion in cuts from the budget, citing a lack of transparency and accountability in the explanations for the allocations. Attorney General Anil Nandlall subsequently moved to the courts and Justice Chang in an interim ruling said that the National Assembly did not have the power to cut the budget but the court could not restore the funding sought by government, except for allocations to the Ethnic Rela-tions Commission (ERC) which is a constitutional agency and entitled to draw directly from the Consoli-dated Fund.
AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan when contacted yesterday told Stabroek News that despite the ruling, the party will proceed as it did last year and make amendments. “We intend to hold on to our position that we can cut the budget, we can amend it, we can reduce line items,” he said. The AFC leader recalled that Speaker of the House, Raphael Trotman last year, had said that the opposition could do so. Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh is expected to present the 2013 National Budget to the National Assembly today.
Ramjattan also noted that the Chief Justice’s ruling is provisional and not binding on the National Assembly. He pointed out that a final ruling has not yet been issued and the party could file a motion to clarify what the Chief Justice meant. He said that saying that the opposition cannot cut or amend the budget would mean that the after days of debate, the House would then be merely rubber-stamping the budget.
“We would want a final decision so that we can take it up to the Court of Appeal or to the CCJ (Caribbean Court of Justice),” said Ramjattan noting that as the ruling is interim, they cannot immediately take it to Court of Appeal. “We would like him to say it is now final so that it clears the way for us to make an appeal,” he said.
As it relates to a final ruling, Ramjattan said that the Chief Justice can indicate that this is the final ruling and then they would have six weeks to appeal or in light of the different interpretations by lawyers, the Chief Justice can call back the parties to listen to their arguments and review the decision. The AFC leader said that the ruling was not clarified to the point as judgments ought to be.
Ramjattan said that the party can also go back to court on a different action and ask for certain clarifications to be made. Ramjattan said that he intends to do this if the Chief Justice does not make a statement as to the finality of the ruling. He said that this would be done immediately after the budget.
The AFC leader maintained that they have the power to amend the budget. He pointed to Article 171 of the Constitution and also referred to the Standing Orders of the National Assembly which set out the procedure as to how they can amend a budget “It is so clear that we can amend a budget,” he said adding that “(the) Standing Orders give us that right.”
Ramjattan noted too that they could also ask the Speaker to make a ruling. It is sad, he said, that a provisional ruling of the Chief Justice would take significant power from the National Assembly and its ability to control the public purse.
Meantime, in relation to the 2012 budget cuts, the AFC leader said that they were effective to the extent that “we made it public that there is lots of shenanigans in those public offices.” He said that it showed that public monies were going to the benefit of members of the PPP. He also noted that the majority of the cuts related to money from Norway which was never in the Treasury and ought not to have been included in the budget and so, only about $2 billion of the $20 billion cuts directly impacted.
Leader of the Opposition David Granger had said too that despite the limited impact from the budget cuts last year, the opposition will cut expenditures that are “unlawful” or do not conform to financial regulations. He said that the opposition also plans to appeal Justice Chang’s ruling. “We intend to appeal the ruling because we feel it is quite useless to have an opposition in the National Assembly which can’t do anything,” he had told Stabroek News.
