Greenidge’s Motion to withdraw supplementary paper out of order, impermissible - Financial Paper Eight gets House’s approval
Georgetown, GINA, March 15, 2012
Financial Paper Eight, which was tabled by Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh in the National Assembly on February 10 and which was met with much opposition from the Alliance for Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) at the February 16 sitting when it was considered, was finally passed today.
During the consideration of this paper at the last sitting, APNU member, Carl Greenidge called for its withdrawal and moved a Motion to this effect, which was fully supported by AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan.
Deputy Speaker of the House, Deborah Backer, who presided at that sitting, stated she needed to advise herself on the admissibility of the Motion before making any pronouncements and sought an adjournment of the session.
Impermissible Motion
Today however, Speaker Raphael Trotman ruled that Greenidge’s Motion for the withdrawal of Financial Paper Eight was indeed out of order. He proceeded to explain that Standing Order 78 clearly sets out the procedure to be followed when supplementary estimates are before the House.
He explained that Standing Order 36 (1) states that a Motion can only be withdrawn at the request of the mover, provided there is no dissenting voice.
He added that a relevant amendment with reference to a financial paper appears to be an amendment to the proposal or proposals contained in the said paper, rather than the Motion that was put forward.
“In the circumstances, I rule that the Motion purportedly moved by Mr. Carl Greenidge and seconded by Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan was not a permissible Motion within the meaning of the Standing Orders and cannot therefore be entertained,” the Speaker concluded.
Financial Paper Eight
This paper sought the approval of supplementary funds to meet expenditure associated with the Hinterland Electrification Programme, which is being spearheaded by the Office of the Prime Minister, improvement of the East Bank Demerara highway and acquisition of ferry vessels by the Public Works Ministry and on the Education for All Fast Track Initiative-EFA-FTI.
Members from the APNU stood to their position of not supporting their items listed in the paper; and this led to a call for vote by division which saw the AFC unable to take a position and as such they abstained from voting, resulting in majority vote from the Government side.
Minister Singh indicated that four heads in Financial Paper Seven that did not receive the Parliament’s approval will be resubmitted for consideration, a move which was ruled permissible by the Speaker.
This was followed by the passage of Supplementary Appropriation No. 4 for 2011- Bill No.1 for 2012, with an amendment that allows for the expunging of the four items. In keeping with Government’s commitment to prudent financial management, all of the expenditure incurred was in pursuit of important national development objectives.