\u00a0In the Guyana Chronicle dated 18th March, 2013, Attorney General Anil Nandlall declared that \u201cany attempts to cut the Budget this year, by the combined Opposition, will again bring it in conflict with the Constitution\u201d.\u00a0 He further stated, \u201c\u2026such action by the Opposition would, essentially, be trying to prepare the nation\u2019s Budget by the combined opposition\u201d.
\nWe wonder why the Constitution of this country would create a situation where taxpayers\u2019 money must be spent to facilitate over a week of debate in the National Assembly when, according to the AG, this august body has no power to reduce anything. It is well nigh ridiculous that the Constitution would command such a waste of money and man days!
\nThe AG\u2019s position is that the National Assembly can only approve the Estimates without any amendment.\u00a0 He concedes that Parliament can disapprove it totally.\u00a0 So it is either Yea or Nay and nothing else.
\nThe Nay vote would mean a no confidence in the Government, forcing new elections. We can only conclude that we doubt that the authors of the constitution could have been so silly as to offer no other options for the Opposition or for that matter, the Government, to influence the running of the country\u2019s financial affairs except by forcing new elections. Though our Chief Justice, Chang, has adopted this position, his (as even he admits), is only provisional.\u00a0 It is not final. Well that being so, we posit that the Assembly ought not to be bound by a provisional decision. And every effort should be made to get it final.
\nThe AG uses Article 218 to argue that the Opposition can reduce a hundred million dollar budget to zero, but cannot reduce it to let\u2019s say 90 million.\u00a0 Not a very rational construction to article 218. Quite frankly it is downright dumb!
\nWe think a deeper understanding of the role of the Assembly in control of the public purse is needed by both these lawyers. Both would have then appreciated why article 171 is in existence. This article, among other things, gives the sole right to a Cabinet-signified Minister to proceed upon any Motion or Bill, (or any amendment thereto), for imposing any charge on the Consolidated Fund. But it gives the right to any other member than a Minister to proceed upon a Motion or Bill to reduce that charge. If it is not so, then the AG and the CJ ought to explain the words \u201cother than by reducing it\u201d in subarticle (2) a ii of that article.
\nAn appreciation of our Standing Orders further supports the right of the National Assembly to reduce or amend or cut the Estimates. The AG says nothing about these Standing Orders. The CJ says they are not law!
\nThe relevant Standing Orders applicable which speak directly to reducing or amending include Standing Order (SO) 71 (b) which provides that \u201cThe motion for the approval of the Estimates shall be amended if necessary, and put, without further debate, as moved or as amended, as the case may be. (Underlined and italicised for emphasis).
\nHere again the AG needs to explain what the words \u201camend if necessary\u201d and \u201cas moved or as amended\u201d mean.\u00a0 The CJ never did make reference to these Standing Orders.
\nAnother relevant Standing Order ought to have been utilized here to give a complete picture. SO 75 which deals with the Procedures in Committee of Supply (1) says that when every head of Estimates has been decided, the \u201cChairperson shall put the question to the Committee that the Estimates (or the Estimates as amended) be reported to the Assembly. The Minister in charge of the Estimates shall report it to the Assembly\u201d. These words must mean something!
\nSO 76, points to the power the National Assembly and is subtitled, \u201cAmendments to Heads of Estimates of Committee of Supply\u201d. It provides
\n(1)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cAn amendment to any Head of Expenditure to reduce the sum allotted thereto in respect of any item therein may be moved by any Member, and shall take the form of a motion \u2026\u201d
\nHere again the position is clear as to the powers of the Assembly with regards to its powers to reduce\/cut the Estimates.<\/p>\n
Constitutional articles and Standing Orders which make provisions for debate and amendment by the Committee of Supply before members decide and vote on the Estimates, could never have meant that the National Assembly has to approve or disapprove of those Estimates as presented by the Minister.\u00a0 These provisions must mean it could be amended or reduced or cut at the Committee of Supply stage.
\nThe Finance Minister must report to the duly constituted National Assembly after deliberation in the Committee of Supply stage. In the case of 2012 Budget, the Hansard will reveal that Dr. Singh, Finance Minister, uttered these words: \u201cMr. Speaker, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply considered the Estimates of Expenditure for the Financial Year 2012 and approved of them as amended\u201d. This was not a case of the Committee of Supply proposing or preparing the Estimates as the Attorney General argues. It is still the Minister proposing amended Estimates for approval.
\nThe Minister then proceeded upon an Appropriation Bill and did this as a representative of the Executive Branch. He said in Budget 2012 and I quote \u201cCabinet has indicated its consent that the National Assembly proceeds with consideration of this Bill\u2026 with amended Schedule, of course.\u201d This was after the cut of some $20B by the Opposition after the fifth and final day of debate.
\nReducing the Estimates ought never to be interpreted to be an intrusion of the National Assembly into the domain of the Executive, as this is allowable and the Assembly is empowered by the Constitution and the Standing Orders to so do. Only in this way can there be checks and balances, where one arm of the government can hold the other accountable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0In the Guyana Chronicle dated 18th March, 2013, Attorney General Anil Nandlall declared that \u201cany attempts to cut the Budget this year, by the combined Opposition, will again bring it in conflict with the Constitution\u201d.\u00a0 He further stated, \u201c\u2026such action by the Opposition would, essentially, be trying to prepare the nation\u2019s Budget by the combined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7134,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latestnews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image001-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4F7T1-1aT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4519"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4521,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4519\/revisions\/4521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}