Govt. argues less than half of $5.7B was spent from coffers

Feb 18, 2012 News

…as Dr. Ashni Singh accuses opposition of stymieing Govt. work

Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh has lambasted the combined opposition for voting down several provisions in a supplementary request to the 2011 budget during last Thursday’s sitting of the House.
He says that the opposition appears to want to stymie the work of the Government.
Dr. Singh contends that less than half of the monies for which approval was being sought were actually expended from the Contingencies Fund.
The Contingencies Fund is akin to a petty cash system operated by businesses but rather for the nation.
Dr. Singh lamented what he called several distortions and misrepresentations of the laws of Guyana, saying that only one of the financial papers was subject to the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMA) being alluded to by the Opposition.
He was at the time referring to the objection made by the opposition where it was argued that the Financial Paper (Number eight) was not in conformity with the legislation and as such should be re-submitted in accordance with the law.
One section of the law pointed to by members of the opposition is section 24 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act which states: The Minister, when introducing a supplementary appropriation Bill, shall present to the National Assembly the reasons for the proposed variations and provide a supplementary document describing the impact that the variations, if approved, will have on the financial plan outlined in the annual budget
To this end the Finance Minister sought to explain that the Financial Paper which Carl Greenidge has requested he resubmit, does not apply to the FMA adding that such legislation is applicable only to monies advanced from the Contingencies Fund.
He said that the paper in question represents disbursements made by international partners or donor bodies for more than what was expected at the time of presenting the budget.
Dr. Singh asserted that the approval of that financial paper was only for the purpose of accounting.
In seeking to illustrate his point, the Finance Minister said that one such sum identified in that Financial Paper was for the acquisition of ferries to the tune of some $2.6B.
He said that this money did not actually make its way to Guyana but rather the Chinese Government paid the Chinese Contractor that constructed the ferries and that the Financial Paper was merely to bring the books to account for the disbursement.
This argument was said to be without merit according to the Opposition Members and this led to the stale-mate in the House.
Dr. Singh said that it was only Financial Paper Number seven which represented advances from the Contingencies Fund and this too did not find favour with the opposition who argued that this too did not conform to the FMA.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira and Dr. Singh following the sitting of the House, hosted a hurriedly organized media briefing where they accused the opposition of posturing, saying that this could only be aimed at stymieing the work of the Government.

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Govt. argues less than half of $5.7B was spent from coffers

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