Georgetown : In accordance with a ruling by Speaker of the House, Raphael Trotman, Finance Minister , Dr Ashni Singh today resubmitted a request for ‘ex-poste Parliamentary’ approval for some $79M advanced from the Contingency Fund expended last year.
That money had come up for debate early this year in Financial Papers #7 and #8 and the opposition had voted down a number of provisions that had been requested for approval.
The Finance Minister, now with Financial Paper #9, is seeking the approval of the monies that had been voted down in paper #7 representing monies expended from local coffers.
Those monies included some $25M as a provision for the conferment of National Awards as well as the $29M which had been allocated for the site preparation for the construction of a specialty hospital.
The monies had represented the first set of monies ever to be cut from an appropriation being sought by a Finance Minister in Guyana. The Finance Minister at that time, had sought approval for in excess of $5B which had been advanced from the Contingencies Fund.
When the Financial Paper # 7 had come up for debate earlier this year A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU), Carl Greenidge had questioned why the government had to spend some $29M from the local coffers when the Indian Government for 2011 had already set aside some $150M for the design of the project.
The Finance Minister at the time failed to convince the opposition on the merits of the expenditure. He had sought to explain that because the money initially allocated for the project was from a foreign source and for a specific purpose the government could not simply use the money for a different project. The legality of this money being represented in the 2012 budget after it was voted down was also subject to debate during the recently concluded Budget debate.
Dr Singh had asserted that the fact that the money was expended is a historical fact and he contends also that the authorization for such expenditure was lawful.
The Finance Minister drew reference to the fact that he was the sole authority as provided for in the Constitution of Guyana and re-enforced with the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act and the Parliamentary Standing Orders.
Dr Singh explained also that what is now required, is an ‘ex poste’ Parliamentary endorsement, for which he said, he will move to the House shortly in accordance with the ruling of the Speaker when he disallowed the allocations earlier this year.
Speaking to the $150M that was allocated for the Hospital in 2011 but never expended, coupled with the fact that the Minister advanced $29.1M to the project from the Contingency Fund, the Finance Minister offered clarification.
Dr Singh told the House that the $150M which was earmarked in 2011 represented inflows from India for the design of the Hospital.
This, he said, was never done, and the site preparation is being funded from the local coffers, hence the $29.1M advanced from the Contingency Fund.
Another amount that was vehemently questioned by the Opposition was a $25M allocation for the Office of the President which the Junior Finance Bishop Juan Edgill seeking to explain that it was to be used for the National Awards for which there had been a prolonged hiatus as well.
Edghill, in his inaugural line of defence of expenditure in the Guyana Parliament, explained that there was a previous five-year hiatus of the conferment of awards.
Some 131 persons were presented with National Awards last year and according to Edghill, the event cost the State $10M.
He had said too that the $15M would have been associated with the swearing in of the President and his Cabinet.
This did little to sway the opposition which proceeded to vote down the provisions.
The Finance Minister had vehemently protested the move by the opposition and Speaker Trotman had ruled that the Finance Minister may resubmit the provisions.
That $79M for which there has been no Parliamentary approval leaves the Contingency Fund void of that money given that it cannot be reimbursed without the legislative arm of the administration giving its approval.
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