The People’s Progressive Party yesterday condemned the APNU+AFC Coalition government’s 2015 budget for its “extravagance,” but explained that it was never its intention to cut the budget as this was in the party’s view illegal for the opposition to do.
At a press briefing held yesterday at Freedom House, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall said that “We gave this government a chance… free reign. Prepare your budget we will support you, we will criticise you heavily, but we are not going to stop any of the initiatives that you may wish to implement let it happen and let the people judge you.”
Nandlall said that the party would not be taking a stand that would “deny money to the economy,” adding that “there must be an injection of money for there to be stimulation, for increased economic activity to take place because of the economic downturn which has plagued this economy since the new government has taken power.”
He noted that under the 10th Parliament, the Chief Justice, Ian Chang issued a ruling in January of last year stating that the opposition has the power to only approve or not approve the Minister of Finance’s estimates but there is no precedent for the opposition to amend the estimates by way of a reduction.
Prior to referencing the High Court ruling, Nandlall was responding to questions by members of the media as to why the opposition did not take the opportunity when they outnumbered members of the government during the deliberations of the Committee of Supply to vote down estimates when they were unsatisfied with the answers provided, Nandlall said that it was the citizenry that was to judge how people-friendly the budget was.
He criticised various elements of the government’s processes thus far stating that during the consideration of the estimates it was revealed that the audits of various state entities being done would cost the government $150M and over however there was no public tender. He said the Finance Minister handpicked Christopher Ram and former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran for the audits. The former Attorney General stated that handpicking persons went against the Procurement Act which stated that for such a large sum the tender board would be the body responsible for the tendering process. The government has explained the circumstances under which Ram and Goolsarran were contracted to do the audits and noted that other auditors besides these two had been taken on.
“Had that happened under the PPP government you would have been tired of reading in the Stabroek News …and in the other newspapers about what Ram and Goolsarran, who are both contributors to the Stabroek News on a regular basis as well as other newspapers, of what they would have written about this transaction”, he told members of the media.
Nandlall noted also that the opposition did not go to the courts to block the audit because they had nothing to hide and did not want the public and members of the media to accuse the party of attempting to subvert an investigation on that basis. “Let the Guyanese people see how they are flouting the law and how they are using the taxpayers’ money as if it is their money so they decide to give ‘x’ a job and (say) `forget the procurement process the treasury is ours we can hire who we want on whatever terms to do what we want them to do’”, he said.
During the press briefing members of the panel, which included MPs Juan Edghill, Africo Selman, Indra Chandarpal and Joseph Hamilton condemned the government for what they called “lavish” lifestyles. The party members echoed each other’s sentiments, noting that the $22M requested under the Office of the Prime Minister for a new Range Rover Land Cruiser and the $18M for a vehicle for the Attorney General were just a few examples of the government’s extravagance. It was also stated that the security budget for the PM was increased and the detail upped from two cars to four. He charged that the government was already taking advantage and was rewarding itself with undeserved benefits from the public treasury.
He added that “We have concluded the first budgetary exercise of the coalition government and we were able to witness first hand certain worrying characteristics.”
Edghill called the administration an “urban upper middle class Judeo-Christian elite,” arguing that they were out of touch with their constituencies. He noted that while security details were increasing in the millions the opposition was unable to find in the budget the $23B promised by the Finance Minister to assist rice farmers.
He said that the opposition was also unable ask about the $400M provision for student loans for tertiary education that was standard under the PPP/C’s budgets in the past due to the lack of time allotted for the consideration of the estimates this year. Edghill stated that the government would still need to answer many questions as to where the monies for integral programmes were considering the government has highlighted that education would be a major focus of the administration.
The former Minister within the Finance Ministry alleged that in many instances government ministers had blatantly lied which became evident during consideration of the estimates. During consideration of the $221B 2015 Budget no increase in the allotment for CCTV cameras and the expansion of the IDB-funded Citizen Security Programme were seen.
Additionally, the Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine has stated that there would be an increase in the school feeding programme which would absorb remnants of the abandoned $10,000 cash grant scheme but members of the PPP stated this was also proven to be inaccurate after consideration of the estimates revealed no increase.
Edghill stated that the opposition will be holding the government accountable, but was vague when he stated that “exciting days are ahead,” in the National Assembly.
