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Dr Van-West Charles calls for reform on approving expenditures
Former Parliamentarian and Government Minister, Dr. Richard Van West Charles is of the opinion that the manner in which monies are approved for expenditure in the National Assembly has to change.
Dr. Charles, in a recent interview with this newspaper said that there should be a Constitutional Reform mandating and there must be a two thirds majority in the voting before monies are approved in the House.
He called the present situation of a simple majority inappropriate in face of the billions of dollars that are approved in the National Assembly each year, especially in light of the massive perception of corruption.
Today, the National Assembly will commence the 2010 Budget Debates, after which the estimates will be considered individually in a special committee and will no doubt be approved.
During one such debate, GAP/ROAR representative, Everall Franklin, during his turn to make his presentation, astutely stood and said, “the aye’s have it,” which in a not so subtle way was sending the message that despite anything he said, the budget will be approved as is and that no changes would be made in the committee stage.
Dr Richard Van West Charles
The committee stage is the point when amendments could be made based on suggestions by any member of the House.
Over the years, the opposition has continuously complained of being railroaded in the National Assembly, a position which has been denied by the PPP General Secretary, Donald Ramotar.
Leader of the Opposition, Robert Corbin, during a recent press briefing, said that his party will from today begin to expose the deficiencies in the budget but only time will tell if there will be any changes made.
A week ago, Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, presented a $142.8B budget in the House which was televised live on the National Communications Network.
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