Latest update October 11th, 2026 10:40 AM
The Constitution speaks of accepting or rejecting a budget
Dear Editor,
Ever since the Honourable Chief Justice gave his decision in relation to the Budget issue, there have been numerous letters for and against the decision. The result is that members of the public in my view are left confused.
I do hope that my effort here to simplify the issue would be helpful in getting a better understanding of the situation.
Firstly, there is a lot of talk about Cutting of the Budget. A careful examination of the Constitution would show that nowhere in the Constitution speaks of Cutting of the Budget. The Constitution speaks of accepting or rejecting a budget. Therefore the phrase “ CUTTING the BUDGET” is regular everyday language. So the Honourable Chief Justice was correct in his decision when he said that budget cannot be cut, since this would be illegal.
Secondly, it must be clearly understood that under the Constitution, the only person to present a Budget to Parliament is the Minister of Finance and that Budget has either to be accepted or rejected. You cannot cut at this point.
However, it must be understood that the budget is for the benefit of the Nation as a whole and not only for the benefit of the Party in Power.
Therefore at the discussion level in Parliament the Committee could make recommendations and a sensible Government ought to be able to take note of those recommendations and make the necessary adjustment so that when the Budget is presented to Parliament it would be accepted or rejected. All the cutting must take place at the Committee stage.
What I have been reading in the Newspapers seems to suggest that on one hand that the Government is prevented from properly running the affairs of this Country because the Opposition without any legitimate reason is trying to frustrate them.
On the other hand no one seems to realise that the Government is there to serve all the people of Guyana and not only those who support them.
Rather than playing a blame game and attempting to mislead the public both sides should try their utmost to serve the interest of the people of Guyana as a whole and not seem to try to remain in Power or to obtain power by playing the blame game.
Jonas M.F. Coddett
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