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House approves Opposition Leader benefits

Apr 09, 2010 News

– Estimated allocation for 2010 is $10.4M

The National Assembly yesterday unanimously approved The Leader of the Opposition (Benefits and Facilities) Bill with some amendments that were presented to the House by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh.
Dr Singh who successfully piloted the Bill told the House that the Legislation was a direct result of a series of consultations/discussions between the Administration and the Main Opposition Party, namely the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR).
This was confirmed by PNCR speaker Lance Carberry who told the House that the discussions were held between him and Dr Roger Luncheon.
Dr Singh told the House that the Bill was meant to enshrine in statute what was in the past a custom and practice
The resourcing of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition will, as in the past, be undertaken by the State, and is made public in the Budget Estimates.
It was explained during the debate of a similar nature for former presidents, that the benefits were on a discretionary basis, but the administration was seeking to change this and have it enshrined in law.
This year’s estimated allocation for the Office of the Leader of the Opposition is $10.4M. Carberry in his presentation to the House sought to dispel the notion that the benefits alluded to in the Bill were new.
Carberry pointed out that the Office of the Leader of the Opposition is already in receipt of the benefits alluded to in the Bill, and further, the amendments that they had tabled only sought to include all of the benefits. He explained that they were not seeking anything new, but rather were having them clearly spelt out in the law.
The amendments which were tabled by Dr Singh were almost identical to that of the PNCR, in that they added some minor benefits as it relates to staffing. These amendments caused the opposition to withdraw their own and the Bill was passed as amended.
Leader of the Alliance For Change Raphael Trotman in his presentation to the House said that he was happy to see that the benefits of the Opposition Leader was being enshrined in law.
He did question whether the staffing such as a research assistant for the Leader of the Opposition would be availed to other parties such as the AFC, given that the Leader of the Opposition is representative of all parliamentary opposition parties.
Trotman also lamented the fact that there is no cap or ceiling to the expenditure that could be had on the Leader of the Opposition
The Bill intituled Leader of the Opposition (Benefits and Other Facilities) Act 2009 was first tabled by Dr Ashni Singh a year ago, almost to the date, and had several deferrals for unknown reasons.
Under the approved legislation, the Leader of the Opposition shall be entitled at Government expense to: a rent-free furnished office accommodation; medical attention including medical treatment or reimbursement of medical expenses incurred by him for himself and the dependent members of his family; full-time security service at his official place of residence; the services of a secretary or an executive secretary, a chauffeur, a gardener and a domestic servant and vacation allowance as is applicable to a Minister.

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