President to Granger… I’m not surrendering control of budget

Jan 14, 2012 News

-but still open for ‘inclusion’ talks

“I have no intentions of abdicating the responsibilities of the government… this is our responsibility- not Mr. Granger’s…”

The ruling party yesterday insisted that while it remained committed to consulting with the Opposition

President Donald Ramotar

on the preparation of the National Budget, it would be unwilling to surrender control.
This much was made clear by President Donald Ramotar yesterday during his first press conference since being sworn in last month.
During the opening session of the 10th Parliament on Thursday, Presidential Candidate of the A Partnership For National Unity (APNU), Brigadier General (rtd), David Granger, said that his party is not satisfied with “mere consultations” on the National Budget. “We are interested in collaboration. We want a budget that was drafted on a tripartite basis so that all of the monies that are collected through revenues are deployed to the benefit of the people as a whole.”
However, President Ramotar was quite clear where the People’s Progressive Party/Civic stood on the matter.
“I have no intentions of abdicating the responsibilities of the government… this is our responsibility- not Mr. Granger’s.”
He was of the view that the government has the responsibility to ensure that it prepares and presents the National Budget.
The Head of State said that when he had started talks back in December with the Parliamentary opposition parties, including both APNU and the Alliance For Change, it was agreed that the opposition would send representatives to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh to consult on the Budget. However, this was not done.
The ruling party would be more than keen to have the Budget prepared and tabled in Parliament early with Ramotar stressing yesterday that his administration was all set to continue work.
With the loss of the coveted Speaker’s post, and now with the opposition wanting more of the say in the crafting of the National Budget, the going may be tough for the ruling party, which since 1992, has been enjoying a majority in Parliament.

Brigadier General (rtd), David Granger

The Budget was tabled in Parliament in January last year. Ramotar yesterday said that the Budget could be ready by the first quarter, with strong indications that much work still lies ahead.
The opposition, on the campaign trail, had promised greater scrutiny into how public monies are spent and signaled intentions to even help in drafting the budget.
On Thursday, Granger made it clear that APNU, like the PPP/C and AFC, wants closer cooperation.
Granger warned that APNU will be paying keen attention on how monies are being spent in Guyana.
“We don’t want monies squirreled away in areas where the National Assembly has no scrutiny. So there are specific things that we need to inject in the budgetary process and we need to be part of the planning. We don’t want to be presented with a fait accompli (done deal).”
According to President Ramotar yesterday, the Opposition by choosing AFC’s leader, Raphael Trotman, as the new Speaker, missed a golden opportunity for closer ties between all the Parliamentary parties.
He again insisted that tradition was broken when the Opposition elected one of their own to become Speaker, a position which would go to the winning party, in this case the PPP/C. The Deputy Speaker goes to the Opposition.
“We have stuck with that, even when we had the combined majority over the Opposition. We have stuck with that tradition, and we thought that that tradition would have been kept going.” The PPP/C choice, of Ralph Ramkarran, the official argued, is a tested person who is a “known quality” and who has conducted the business of Parliament in a very professional way. “I am very proud of him, and being a colleague of his.”
The President yesterday also did not rule out the possibility of still embracing the Opposition in his government, saying that he is “still willing to be inclusive in my approach…as long as the Opposition shows some inclination that they are ready to work, I will be ready to work with them.”
He stopped short of saying how far his government is prepared to go in terms of inclusivity.
Meanwhile, on the outstanding issue of the vacant Minister of Tourism, Trade and Commerce, Ramotar disclosed that he is still mulling a number of issues but a number of candidates considered appeared to have interests in the tourism sector, which would present a conflict of interest situation.
Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, is currently also overseeing that Ministry.