Norton’s Office gets 6.5 percent increase

Jan 31, 2024 News

Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton

Kaieteur News – The Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton has been allocated $32.5 million in the national budget, a sum which includes the 6.5 percent public sector salary increase which was approved last year end by the government.

The sum falls under budgetary allocations for local constitutional bodies and is in keeping with the increase given to the staff of that agency.

In 2023, the Opposition Leader’s Office got $28 million. However, this year, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira explained that the Office of the Opposition Leader will benefit from an increase totaling $1.1 million based on the 6.5 percent public sector salary increase approved last year by the government. The increase took the annual budgetary allocation from $28.211 million to $32.564.

Teixeira gave this explanation in response to questions from Opposition Parliamentarian, Ganesh Mahipaul during the Consideration of the Estimates of the 2024 national budget on Tuesday in the National Assembly.

Back in 2021, a request for an increase by the Office of the Opposition Leader was denied. Then, the $37 million allocated to the Office of the Leader of the Opposition was deemed sufficient by the Speaker, Manzoor Nadir.

Nadir said the Opposition Leader’s Office could not receive a budgetary increase of more than 200 percent.

Nadir claimed then that the $37 million expenditure is in keeping with the yearly allocation for the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.

“Last year, as I said, $35 million was allocated to the Leader of the Opposition Office. This year, it is over $37 million for the current expenditure. Last year, between January and August, when the Leader of the Opposition then was … [Vice] President Jagdeo, he received $19.2 million and this was an allocation made by the PPP/C Government to the Leader of the Opposition to cover his expenses from January 1st to August 31st…”

Meanwhile, under the 2024 allocations, the Audit Office of Guyana received $1.3 billion; the Public and Police Service Commission got $1202 million; and the Teacher Service Commission, $184 million.

The Supreme Court of the Judicature has been allocated $4.6 billion; Public Prosecutions, $420 million; the Office of the Ombudsman, $67 million; the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, $68 million; the Ethnic Relations Commission, $238 million; the Judicial Service Commission, $17 million; the Rights Commissions of Guyana, $17 million; and the Public Procurement Commission, $270 million.

• Aubrey Norton, budgetary allocations, Office of the Opposition Leader, Police Service Commission, Public Prosecutions