PM signs Budget Bill hours before deadline

May 02, 2014 News

– Govt. still to decide on the way forward – AG

By Abena Rockcliffe

The Appropriation Bill of 2014 has been assented to mere hours before the deadline. The signature of assent is that of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who is currently performing the duties of Head-of State in the absence of President Donald Ramotar.
Midnight on April 30 is the deadline for the Appropriation Bill to be assented to as there could have been no expenditure after that date without such legalities in place.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds

At the most recent Post-Cabinet briefing held on the same day, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon could not have given a specific answer as to whether the Bill would have been assented to or not. Prime Minister Hinds signed the Bill sometime Wednesday night.
Kaieteur News contacted two government officials yesterday who refused to comment on whether or not any consideration had been given to send the Bill back to parliament, and efforts to contact the Prime Minister proved futile.
Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall told this publication that the government is still exploring its options and is contemplating whether it will go back to court with the issue of budget cuts.
Of course, the issue of whether or not the opposition could cut the Budget was taken before the court by the AG before. On that occasion, Chief Justice (ag) Ian Chang had ruled that the Opposition could only approve or disapprove as opposed to reducing the budget. But it appears as though the opposition and government have differing interpretations of this ruling. The government is saying that the opposition can either approve or disapprove the budget as a whole, while the opposition members are saying that they can either approve or disapprove funding for a programme and not reduce.
The government had said before that it would be going back to the court, but the Attorney General has stated that “We have not yet decided, as a collective, the way forward. We need further discussions.”

Attorney General Anil Nandlall

The Opposition withheld approval to a number of programmes. Appropriations for several Rights Commissions, the National Communications Network, Government Information Agency (GINA) and other programmes falling directly under the Office of the President (OP) were affected when the Opposition disapproved funding for the Office of the President’s administration.
Disapproval has even resulted in there being no allocation for the President’s security.
According to Nandlall “It is an action that no responsible person or body would take. If the President is to respond in such an irresponsible manner, or reciprocate in like manner and instruct the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, to not disperse funds to the National Assembly, we would ultimately have a breakdown of constitutional democracy.”
He said that it is obvious that the opposition’s actions can lead to a breach in the President’s security.
The Attorney General said that the drafters of the Constitution could have never intended the National Assembly to use its powers to deny institutions, crafted by the very constitution, their funds for functioning, more so to jeopardize the president’s security.
“I therefore have no doubt that the National Assembly acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally when it denied the OP and every other constitutional and statutory office it funds!” Nandlall stated emphatically