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Govt. gets a further $4B on 2008 vote

Jan 16, 2009 News

The Consolidated Fund was yesterday heavily pinched when the National Assembly approved the sum of $4B to be withdrawn to meet the necessary expenditure of various Ministries for 2008.
After just under an hour of inquiries and drilling from the Opposition parties to determine the exact nature of the essentials for the money, the sum was approved.
Among the expenses that are being covered under the sum granted are the charting of an aircraft for the Cuba scholarship awardees, additional cost of Linden and Kwakwani community power, extra expenses for the hosting of Amerindian Heritage Month activities, increased expenditures for the maintenance of drainage and irrigation systems, and supplementary cost related to special operations by the Guyana Defence Force.
A whopping $300M was granted to the Ministry of Agriculture to cover its drainage and irrigation expenses for the latter part of 2008.
In defending the sum expended, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, said that a number of excavators were deployed to undertake critical drainage works in several regions and as such much maintenance was required.
He pointed out that there was need for the maintenance of drainage pumps of various capacities.
According to the Minister, there were major rehabilitation works undertaken in different areas.
Monies were also expended on the rehabilitation and reactivation of sluices apart of other infrastructure works.
He noted that during the rainy season the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority supported regional authorities in expediting urgent interventions to better manage the high intensity rainfall.
The 2008 budget had approved $731,704,000 for drainage and irrigation works but this sum was insufficient.
An additional $308.5M was required by the Ministry of Finance, of which $237M was sought for payments to Bosai for the generation of electricity to Linden residents.
In the Defence Sector, $210M was slighted as additional expenses, of which $45M was sought to meet ‘expenditure for Joint Operations.’
When questioned if this sum was to pay the Joint Services for the capture of Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins, Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jennifer Webster denied any such assumption, adding that the money will be spent on matters of ‘national security’.
Subsides and contributions to local organizations to facilitate the processing of Guyana Rice Development Board cheques pertaining to ‘Rice Levy A’ through the Ministry of Finance sought some $413,774,032.
In August last, the National Assembly had passed the first Supplementary Appropriations Bill amounting to some $4.8B in capital estimates.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds had said at that time that the bulk of the money in the supplementary provisions, $ 3.7B, will be going to the Guyana Power and Light to avert an increase in tariffs.
Among some of the other requests was that of the Ministry of Agriculture-Crops and Livestock Services, which is requesting some $31.5M to meet costs associated with the purchase and resale of small packets of flour.
The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce had requested monies to meet costs associated with cash transfers for bakers’ biscuit flour, which was also an initiative earlier in the year to address the rising prices of flour.

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