Latest update November 5th, 2024 1:00 AM
Speaker disallows Motion to add Exxon US$18M bonus to Consolidated Fund
…PPP/C signals intention to seek legal action
Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland
Before the passage of the 2018 budget, Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland, yesterday, disallowed a motion of adjournment from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) seeking to have the US$18 million signing bonus paid by ExxonMobil transferred from the Bank of Guyana to the Consolidated Fund.
On the final day for the consideration of the estimates, the PPP/C Members of Parliament, Irfaan Ali, and Gail Teixeria, through the motion, sought to have the National Assembly direct Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan to amend the estimates of revenues and expenditure to reflect the signing bonus.
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo presented the motion in Ali’s absence. The Motion set out to seek the adjournment on a definite matter of urgent public importance.
The House was scheduled to start at 10 a.m., but didn’t get underway until shortly after 13:30 hours.
Dr. Barton in his ruling stated that the motion of adjournment on a definite matter of urgent public importance is an extraordinary procedure and that the Standing Order that guides the Speaker sets out three indispensible elements– that the matter must be definite, urgent and it must be of public importance.
“Of the existence of all three elements, the Speaker must be satisfied,” Dr. Barton stated.
He shared that the matter appears to be definite and of public importance. However, the Speaker ruled that it did not satisfy the ‘urgent’ element since the matter of the signing bonus was raised a week ago in Parliament by Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, and Raphael Trotman, the Minister of Natural Resources.
“The Honourable Members who have sought to move the suspension of the business of this House through the extraordinary procedure of this adjournment motion appear to have approached the House some seven days after they were made aware,” the Speaker stated,
He noted that consideration of the estimates continued over the seven days, yet the members approached the House with the motion on the final day of the process.
“The Speaker holds that the urgency envisaged in the Standing Order is not represented by this application and consequently disallows the application,” Dr. Barton ruled.
The motion sought to have Jordan deposit the money into the consolidated fund in compliance with the laws. It was noted that the current revenues and expenditures do not reflect the receipt of the monies and are therefore understated by US$18 million in violation of the Constitution and the Fiscal Management and the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act.
Essentially, by the motion, the estimates are unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional, null, void, and of no legal effect.
In the motion, Ali points out that the signing bonus was only publicly disclosed and admitted to by the Government less than seven days ago.
According to the motion, the monies were deliberately not entered in any formal accounting records of Guyana. Specifically, the motion pointed out that Article 216 of the Constitution of Guyana mandates all revenues or other monies raised or received by Guyana shall be paid into and from one Consolidated Fund.
This is applied in most cases except when revenue that are payable, by or under an Act of Parliament, into some other fund established for any specific purpose or that may, by or under such an Act, be retained by the authority that received them for the purpose of defeating the expenses of that authority.
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has signaled his party’s intention to mount a legal challenge against the decision of the Government to have the monies sent directly to a ‘special’ account at the Bank of Guyana. The Government was forced to admit the existence of the US$18 million bonus after a letter was leaked indicating that the Ministry of Finance directed the Bank to set up the fund for the bonus.
Jordan has since indicated that the monies were received in 2016.
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