Latest update December 19th, 2024 3:22 AM
Dec 16, 2021 News
—says money represents arrears by ministries, departments
Kaieteur News – Despite the fact that some $2 billion was allocated in Budget 2021, to pay for electricity charges to the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), government is seeking an additional $4 billion from the Contingency Fund. This time it says to clear arrears owed to that company by state agencies.
This request comes just a week after GPL announced that it was broke. Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon during a Press briefing on Wednesday flagged the request, citing that the amount is a 329 percent increase from what was paid to the company in 2019. He said, “Additionally, $4 billion is being requested to clear the arrears owed to GPL by the government ministries. The Ministry of Finance budgeted $2 billion for electricity charges in 2021. Now this is a 329 percent increase, from what was budgeted for in 2019”.
Harmon pointed out that since the government is requesting more monies, he would like to know the exact sum of the arrears owed to the state-owned GPL. “What we would wish to know, since this is arrears payment, is whether in fact the Ministry of Finance has taken over all of the arrears payment for all Government ministries and in that manner, how much is the arrears and what is left to be paid, after this sum is taken out,” the Leader of the Opposition explained.
The matter is expected to come up for discussion today in the National Assembly. Harmon reminded that Article 220 (1) of our Constitution states that “Parliament may make provision for the establishment of a Contingencies Fund and for authorising the Minister responsible for finance to make advances from that Fund if he or she is satisfied that there is an urgent need for expenditure for which no other provision exists.”
Further, the Financial Management and Accountability Act, section 41 states clearly that the Minister must be satisfied that all matters that are dealt with under this section are urgent, unavoidable and unforeseen, therefore justifying the need for the expenditure.
He therefore reasoned that “The question that is therefore left to be answered when one looks at Financial Paper Three of 2021 is, can any reasonable minister, responsible for Finance, honestly say that all of the monies taken from the Contingency Fund during this period fit the criteria set out by our Constitution and the FMAA?”
According to him, the pattern of the PPP has revealed to not only him, but the country at large, that the administration is ‘extremely poor’ at budgeting and at economic management. In fact, he argued that this is the very reason that the economy is in “such a mess”. “It’s either that, or they are very cavalier about an approach to national resources. That they believe they can give you a National Budget and three months after you come for another sum, another four months after you come for another sum. So it’s really not proper planning and this is why our economy is so messed up.” Harmon posited. He explained that while some of the Government’s requests, such as the provision for vaccines and drainage and irrigation to mitigate flooding meet the requirements set out in the Constitution, the majority does not line up.
In this regard, the Opposition Leader assured that the administration will be seriously interrogated when such matters come up today. “We don’t just go through this just to criticise but we actually have gone through this line by line and where in fact it does not meet the requirement, as set out in the Constitution, then clearly these are matters which (we) would flag and seriously interrogate these numbers,” he said.
Today, the government will be seeking an additional $26.5 billion in the National Assembly, through its two financial papers. The requests made by the PPP for additional funding from the Contingency fund, if successfully passed, will allow for more monies to be directed to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) and for security services, among others.
Dec 19, 2024
Fifth Annual KFC Goodwill Int’l Football Series Kaieteur Sports-The 2024 KFC Under-18 International Goodwill Football Series, which is coordinated by the Petra Organisation, continued yesterday at...Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- In any vibrant democracy, the mechanisms that bind it together are those that mediate differences,... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – The government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela has steadfast support from many... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]