Last week, we discussed the Government’s decision to pay over all proceeds from the Lotto funds to the Consolidated Fund. We felt that it is a victory for public accountability ending almost 20 years of struggle to get the previous Administration to agree that these proceeds are public revenues which have to be paid over to the Consolidated Fund and that no public expenditure can be incurred without parliamentary approval. The then Administration fought tooth and nail to retain the proceeds which were kept in a special bank account under the control of the then Office of the President to be used at its discretion. One recalls the unsolicited opinion of a former Attorney General to the Auditor General in support of the Government’s position in an attempt to cower him into silence. This column is on record as having considered the opinion seriously flawed.
The long-awaited Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2015 will be presented to the National Assembly at 2.00 p.m. today, some four months after the constitutional deadline. This delay was occasioned by the dissolution of Parliament on 28th February, one month before the Estimates were due to be presented. As a result, the affairs of the State had to be managed for eight months without an approved budget, and the Government had to rely on provisions of Article 219 (3) of the Constitution to access funds to meet the cost of essential government services. In particular, no new capital expenditure projects could have been undertaken, and no new measures could have been put in place to stimulate the economy that has so far been adversely affected by the stalemate over budgetary allocations for the last three years.
The Administration has until 10 September 2015 to present the budget. The budget is in effect a four month one since eight months would have already elapsed, and revenues for this period would have already been collected and paid over to the Consolidated Fund; and