END THE QUARRELING!

Mar 15, 2012 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) had to know when they agreed for Mr. Carl Greenidge to be their shadow minister of finance that the PPP would try to pick him apart.
APNU knew about the political baggage that the former Minister of Finance carried and therefore must not be surprised that the PPP is engaged in their favorite pastime of sniping and taking political potshots at the shadow Finance Minister.
These attacks were characteristic of the Jagdeo administration. It took the form of softening the opposition by referring to their record while in government.
The PPP, of course, was encouraged along this course when comments were made about its record of transparency and accountability. This led to a reply within the National Assembly about the tabling of the Reports of the Auditor General when Mr. Greenidge was Minister.
The former Minister indicated that he tabled some eleven reports. Well as things turned out, none of these related to the time he was finance minister.
The press, of course, kept silent on the facts while these salvoes were being exchanged. They could have intervened and prevented things from reaching the stage they did by simply pointing out what was reported in the 1992 Auditor General’s Report on the Public Accounts of Guyana.
That report, which was presented in 1993, was damaging to the outgoing PNC regime. It painted a dismal picture of the entire accounting system in the country, along with some questions about certain payments such as a then sixteen million payment to two persons from a gold account which was being held outside of the Consolidated Fund.
That report more instructively indicated that no audited accounts were provided for the period 1982 to 1991 because the requisite financial statements were not provided.
The Auditor General at the time indicated that he had brought this matter to the attention of the relevant persons and had made some recommendations. While the problem was acknowledged, the situation was not remedied. As such, there is a gaping hole when it comes to the Public Accounts of Guyana.
The Auditor General, on legal advice, opted to prepare some special reports for some of the years, but these related to the work of his office. It is now safe to say that there were no public accounts for the period 1982-1991.
That point could have been made a long time ago by the media, thereby avoiding the exchanges which were taking place.
The debate about audited accounts should now end, and the PPP, which loves a mudslinging campaign, should end it there. There is a new president and the old ways of doing things should not continue.
What is of public interest now, are the consultations over the Budget.
The government can turn and twist the story however it wishes, but the fact remains that it has shown very little enthusiasm when it comes to consulting the opposition in the preparation of the budget for this year.
The government, of course, had a long time to involve the opposition in consultations, but they clearly were too busy to arrange an earlier meeting than the one which was proposed for March 7th, with what was said to be only two days’ notice.
This notice is too short, but it is not too late for a last-ditch effort to be made for the sides to meet. Both of the opposition parliamentary parties have named two representatives. If one representative cannot make it, the other one should attend.
And since time is now of the essence, a last-ditch effort should be made, despite the rumblings and quarrels, to have some form of consultation.

One suspects, however, that what is taking place at the level of the representatives is merely symptomatic of the bigger problems in the parliament where the opposition and the government are at loggerheads.
If the relationship is not good there, then it will seep over to other areas. The PPP has had experience of this during some talks they held with the PNC in 1985.
Things seemed to be going well when Burnham used the excuse of an article in the Mirror newspaper as the basis for withdrawing from the talks. The article was critical, but the excuse was something inevitable, since Burnham had already gotten what he wanted. He had wanted to gauge the reaction of the Americans to the two leftist parties in the country having talks.
There are no external interests to appease this time around. But there are 720,000 persons who are wondering just what is going to happen in parliament soon, or whether the nation will have to go back to the polls in the not too distant future.
The solution to the problem lies not in the hands of the representatives or of the Minister of Finance. The solution will depend on what will occur in parliament come the next sitting. If the opposition is not magnanimous, we can expect a replay of the same old exchanges that have taken place in recent weeks.
It is strange, though, that the other committees are meeting, but when it comes to the budget committee there has been no meeting.
The two sides will eventually have to sit down and talk about the budget, because the support of the opposition is required for the budget to be passed, and therefore it is best that they sit down and talk now, rather than later.