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Finance Minister amends law to ‘fast-track’ budget for Constitutional Agencies
Kaieteur News – Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh on Monday tabled a Bill with proposed amendments to the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMAA), aimed at fast tracking the budget process in relation to Constitutional Agencies.
Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh.
The Bill seeks to amend the FMAA Chapter 73:02, for the purpose of “prescribing the manner in which budgets are approved and withdrawals are made from the Consolidated Fund in respect of Constitutional Agencies.”
Additionally, the amendments aim to ensure accountability and sets out the practice and procedure to which the Constitutional Agencies must conform in the management of their subventions for the efficient discharge of their functions.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance on the matter, the amendments are necessary, as they serve to streamline the Budget process, particularly in relation to Constitutional Agencies while simultaneously ensuring the preservation of the independence of the agencies.
The Bill intends to make changes such as an amendment to section 15 of the FMAA, to require that an annual budget be proposed to include a motion in compliance with articles 218 and 222 A of the Constitution.
The Bill arises from the 2015 amendment to the FMAA by the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), that constitutional agencies’ budgets were required to be sent to the National Assembly in advance of the submission of the rest of the National Budget.
The two-stage process, the Ministry of Finance noted, resulted in a fragmented and inefficient process for consideration of the National Budget and denied the Parliament an opportunity to view and consider the budget in a comprehensive manner.
Meanwhile, another amendment seeks to amend section 40E of the Audit Act to provide for the presentation of the Audit Office Budget.
In January, a motion was tabled for an amendment to the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Act 2021 seeking to amend the FMAA Chapter 73:02 to allow for the correction of a number of anomalies relating to the budget process applicable to constitutional agencies.
The following month—February—the government majority of the National Assembly voted in favour of further amendments to the FMAA which was passed in 2003 and later amended in 2015 under the APNU+AFC administration.
In presenting his motion at the time, Dr. Singh said, that the proposed alterations to the important legislation will increase the efficiency and effectiveness as it relates to the presentation and consideration of the budget for Constitutional Agencies.
In its current amended form, Singh said that the FMAA resulted in the budget process being unnecessarily long.
The amendment laid out a two-stage process whereby the budget of the constitutional agencies would be brought to the National Assembly, considered and approved by the Assembly.
It would then be incorporated into the national budget, which would subsequently be submitted to the House for consideration, at which time the budget of the constitutional agencies, would not be reconsidered, but would form part of the national budget,” Dr. Singh explained.
He noted that the 2021 amendment sought to remove the aforementioned two-stage process and replace it with a single, summarised process of submitting and considering budgets for Guyana’s constitutional agencies.
In his arguments, Dr. Singh said, that certain fiscal responsibilities are best handled by the Executive.
This, he explained, is appropriately demonstrated in Article 171 of the Constitution, which states that certain matters relating to public finances, including the levying of taxes, can only be brought before the House signified by a Minister.
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