Approval sought in parliament after $204M paid to consultants, advisors
- Ramjattan says “almost criminal”
In what Parliamentarians dubbed a flagrant violation of the rules on public spending, the government yesterday sought approval for $204 million to pay consultants and advisors, but the opposition voted against it.
AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan
Khemraj Ramjattan, leader of the seven-seat opposition party Alliance for Change, said what the government did was “almost criminal” but later told Kaieteur News that the law makes provision to haul government ministers before the courts.
He said that the law only provides for “officials” to be charged if there is a violation of the financial regulations, and ministers of the government do not count as “officials” as far as the Director of Public Prosecutions is concerned.
The government was seeking to clear $136 million to meet the salaries of contract employees and a further $68 million to clear what it had paid consultants and lawyers.
In a heated debate, Attorney General Anil Nandlall argued that a ruling by the Chief Justice on the budget cuts earlier this year identified provisions in the constitution that allow the Minister of Finance to access monies from the Consolidated Fund and the Contingency Fund if there was an insufficient allocation made.
However, Basil Williams of opposition coalition A Partnership for National Unity argued that the Chief Justice’s ruling was not intended to be seen as the court substituting for the Minister of Finance. He said that if the Minister found that the amount voted in the budget was not sufficient he had to “lay before the National Assembly” the additional sums he wanted.
Ramjattan said that the government was treating the Chief Justice’s ruling “half way” and noted that a supplementary estimate of excess spending needed to be approved by the National Assembly.
“They’ve gone and spent it already; it is almost criminal,” Ramjattan declared. He said that the government was “misreading” and then “misleading” about the ruling of the Chief Justice.
Among the consultants paid were Office of the President Advisor Kevin Hogan ($13 million); former head of the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) office Sesh Sukhdeo ($3.8 million); Office of the President Advisor Steven Grin ($15 million); Kapil Mohabir ($12 million); Kit Nascimento ($1.3 million); and Dario McAlmon, who had a title as Public Relations Officer at the OLPF office ($ 3.6 million.) Among the legal fees paid were those to Robin Hunte in the amount of $400,000 and $600,000 to Jaya Manickchand.