The National Assembly last evening approved over $8 billion in total budgetary allocations for 16 constitutional agencies even as the government’s failure to properly account for cuts to requested expenditure drew criticism.
“Capriciousness, nothing but capriciousness without framework or foundation,” was the refrain delivered to the National Assembly by Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira during the consideration of the 2018 Annual Budget Proposals of 16 Constitutional Agencies and the recommendations and comments of the Minister of Finance thereon. This is the third year since an amendment to the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act granted these agencies financial autonomy. The amendment also necessitated that their lump sum allocations be considered separate from the regular budget.
During five hours of fervent debate, Teixeira and fellow opposition parliamentarians sought to extract from Minister of Finance Winston Jordan the rationale behind his decision to recommend that most constitutional agencies receive significantly less than their requested 2018 budget.