NOTHING TO GAIN FROM BUDGET CUTS

Jan 25, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

It seems to have taken APNU a long time to come to the realization that the PPPC administration is not interested in a jointly–crafted Budget.
The government is not ill-disposed towards negotiations on the Budget but its conduct has always suggested that it regards the preparation of the Budget as being its responsibility and its responsibility alone.
The government has invited the private sector and APNU to Budget consultations. But APNU seems to be of the view that this somehow requires them to demand a whole series of information from the government so that they can have an understanding of the finances of the State.
The government on the other hand does not view meaningful consultation as inferring a right to compendious stacks of information. Neither is the government of the view that consultations involve joint development of the Budget.
As such, when the PPPC invites any party to consultations what it wants is simply some suggestions which it will then decide if it can accommodate within the Budget numbers. This is the PPPC’s idea of consultations.
What the PPPC is looking for from the opposition parties are suggestions and proposals. The government does not want any protracted haggling over numbers and policies. It wants a wish list and then to decide if or to what extent this wish list can be accommodated within the Budget.
The opposition APNU seems to have taken a long time to recognize this. As such, each year for the past two years there have been bitter exchanges between the representatives of the PPPC government and APNU about who was responsible for the collapse of Budget talks.
Some attempt was made to develop a framework as to how these negotiations should proceed but the government has never gotten around to formalizing this and does not seem interested in any other approach other than entertaining the opposition’s wish list.
The opposition does not need to be part of this charade. By virtue of its one seat majority, now temporarily reduced to a dead heat because of the illness of one of APNU’s parliamentarians, the combined opposition has to vote in support of the Budget before it can be passed.
The support of either one or both of the opposition parties is needed before the Budget is passed and this fact allows the opposition considerable leverage.
The government has to negotiate with the opposition parties to enjoy passage of the Budget. And the government seems to prefer the route of preparing its own Budget, laying it before the National Assembly and then having rushed negotiations with the opposition parties before the deadline expires.
Once the opposition parties recognize this, they will avoid wasting a great deal of time. Instead of requesting information, they should be readying themselves for the negotiating table because this is where the Budget differences will be settled.
The government is likely this year to return with funding for the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Facility and the funds that were cut from the airport project and the Specialty Hospital. They will dare the opposition to cut it again because they feel that they have a strong case before the courts.
The government’s position remains that there are no powers under our Constitution for the opposition to amend the Budget and they will therefore attempt to lure the opposition into doing what it has done over the past two years, cut and amend the allocations. And the opposition will oblige because they are of the opinion that they have this prerogative.
The public is increasingly becoming frustrated by this approach. It does not wish to endure another Budget that is going to be amended and cut. They will settle for the government passing its numbers but the opposition being allowed to exercise greater oversight over spending.
In the end, it does not matter what the opposition does or how the government behaves. Voting patterns are entrenched and this pulling and tugging will only solidify these patterns. In other words when the opposition takes out its fiscals shears, it does not do anything for its standing in future elections.
The ruling party benefits all the time from a stand-off.
The better strategy is therefore for the opposition to refuse to pass the Budget and to have a list of about ten things which they want to see included.
They should lay these proposals on the table and have the government decide whether they will accede.
There is nothing absolutely nothing for the opposition to gain from another round of Budget cuts.

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