Georgetown : The Alliance For Change (AFC) parliamentarians left the Public Buildings chambers as the Minister of Finace Dr. Ashni Singh was about to present the 2014 National Budget Monday last. The party in a statement had claimed that in protest against the violation of the Constitution and that the “2014 budget is overshadowed by the ruling of the Chief Justice that the National Assembly may approve or not approve the estimates of the expenditure.”
The AFC also claimed that the budget was being presented by the Minister who disregarded decisions of the National Assembly, and restored funds that were not approved by the said Assembly.
Minister Singh in dismissing the Party’s claim stated that, “it is a matter of public record we invited the opposition parties on several occasions, and they failed to turn up. So if there is a lack of consultation, it’s because they refused to make themselves available. There were repeated invitations made and they refused to avail themselves.”
Shortly after presenting the Budget to the National Assembly, Minister Singh pointed out that it contains a number of policies, programmes, initiatives and interventions, all of which are in the interest of Guyana and its people. “That must be the ultimate consideration.”
Minister Singh expressed the hope that any national budget brought to the National Assembly should be assessed on its merits.
On January 29, 2014, the CJ issued his final ruling on the matter, stating that the Opposition has no right to cut the country’s budget estimates and can only approve or disapprove the entire budget.
Minister Singh had previously stated, however that a similar claim of no consultations made by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) was a blatant lie and a cheap publicity stunt. This response was made to the claim by APNU’s Leader David Granger in the Kaieteur News of January 18, under the article titled “APNU says its being sidelined from Budget consultation- will force implementation of reforms if concerns not taken on board”.
The Minister explained that his email dated January 13, 2014 indicated Government’s invitation to meet on Budget 2014, and requested APNU Member Carl Greenidge to suggest a date. The email was also copied to Granger, Lance Carberry, Khemraj Ramjattan, Dr. Roger Luncheon, and Gail Teixeira. The email also contained copies of documents to be discussed.
The invitation was met with stony silence by Granger and Greenidge.
Further, in February 2014, there was still no response from the Parliamentary Opposition parties to government’s invitation to participate in pre-budget consultations, however, the opposition parliamentarians did meet with the hierarchy of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and signalled their support for the military’s budget allocation.
Government’s policy is to engage with various stakeholders particularly with regards to shaping policy and for input on key issues. Through this mechanism, the constant exchange of views in enabled, and suggestions, issues, challenges and concerns are noted. “We are able to learn what their priorities are; we are able to explain issues and challenges so that they are better informed to formulate their own positions on issues,” the Finance Minister stated.
Consultations were held with several stakeholders including the Private Sector Commission (PSC), the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), and the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), and all were described as a good series of engagements.
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