2014 Budget… APNU will disapprove of spending not in the National Interest

Mar 18, 2014 News

Leader of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Brig. David Granger, expressed dissatisfaction with the consultation APNU has had with government over the Budget. He has now promised to disapprove anything that is not in the national interest, regardless of the ruling by Chief Justice Ian Chang.

Leader of APNU David Granger

The opposition coalition leader, in giving some insight as it pertains to their position, explained that he “personally requested the President in 2011 to establish a tripartite budget Committee. We ran into something I would call a car crash in 2012.
“I repeated my request for a tripartite budget committee to be established and we ran into another crash in 2013. I was given the indication that on January 1, last, that some progress would be started so that the preparation of the 2014 budget would be less problematic than 2012 and 2013. This did not happen.”
Granger said the coalition feels that the attempts made by Finance Minister Dr, Ashni Singh with respect to the Budget were not sincere in trying to bring about any joint endeavour in the preparation of the budget.
According to Granger, “At this point in time I would say that the contacts that were made were without substance and there is a danger therefore that if the concerns of APNU are not met, regardless of the ruling of Chief Justice Chang, we are going to disapprove of spending which we feel is not in the national interest.”
He however explained that even though the 2014 Budget will take place according to law within the next forthnight before the end of March. And “even though APNU have not had the benefit of a full consultation and we cannot say what the Budget will contain, we will continue to approve spending which we feel is properly presented and is in the national interest” said Granger.
The Opposition Leader said that whatever language one might use, APNU still has legislative power and government expenditure cannot be made without the Appropriation Act which must be approved by the National Assembly
“So jump high or jump low we are going to exercise our right to approve or disapprove. We have certain concerns and at this point in time we have not been involved in the preparatory process for the budget and therefore we cannot say if those concerns are taken on board.”
What Granger could say was that APNU is not setting out to cut things from the Budget. “We are setting out to ensure our concerns for national interest for example in matters of job creation for young people.
“There are certain things that we are looking for and if we feel that money is going to be wasted on projects and those projects are not properly prepared and presented to the National Assembly then we will have to take decisions on the perception at the time.”
The Chief Justice had ruled that the Opposition both the Alliance for Change (AFC) and APNU had no power to cut the Budget and as such a ban was instituted against them preventing such cuts from taking place in future Budgets.
Both Opposition parties; the Alliance for Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) have expressed their intent to ignore the Chief Justice’s (CJ’s) ruling, citing the separation of powers between the Legislative and Judicial arms of the Constitution, and the rules of Parliament which allow the Opposition more than “approval or disapproval” before the passing of the National Assembly.