Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh says the Bill APNU member, Carl Greenidge moved yesterday in the National Assembly for the House to grant leave for the introduction and first reading of the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMAA) (Amendment) Bill 2012 is fundamentally flawed. The Minister has requested the House not to grant the leave that was being sought and for it to be proceeded with.
It seeks to remove from the schedule of the FMAA certain budget agencies without articulating an alternative set of arrangements to govern their financial management and provisions of financial allocations. This, Minister Singh said, would result in these agencies being left in “no man’s land”.
Minister Singh explains that Article 171 (2) of the constitution states that the National Assembly shall not proceed upon any Bill including an amendment to a Bill which makes provisions for an imposition of any charge upon the consolidated fund or for altering any such charge that Bill or the amendment to a Bill comes to the National Assembly with the prior consent of the Cabinet.
The Minister urged the House to reconsider the interpretation of this particular article and specifically the matter of the admissibility of this amendment Bill.
The Bill also contains certain other deficiencies including the removal of entities that are not even in the schedule such as the judicial Service Commission (JSC) which is not a budget agency.
Minister Singh said, the bill deemed as fundamental flaw as one cannot remove from the schedule, something that is not there in the first instance.
A division was called, resulting in a vote of 33 for and 30 against.
