DÉjà vu as Budget cuts loom…Opposition contemplates new strategy to counter court ruling

It is likely that once again, based on the statements and what transpired in the last two years, that the Opposition will be making amendments to the allocations for a number of entities and projects.
Members of Parliament (MPs) from A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), the Opposition which together controls a one-seat majority, have been clashing with the Government side since the first budget under the 10th Parliament, in 2012.
The Opposition has been insisting that the mere fact that the budget has to be taken to the National Assembly for approval is a clear assumption that cuts can be made.
However, the Government is insisting that the National Assembly does not have the powers to do so.
The matter ended up in the courts with Chief Justice (Ag) Ian Chang in January ruling that the Opposition, under the Constitution, does not have the power to cut the Government’s Budget.
The ruling has raised questions and brought on a collision course the two separate pillars of the Government…the Legislature and Executive…and their independent functions.
According to Chang, to cut the Budget is a “final act” that leaves no space for amending the Budget estimates. He explained that there is therefore nothing left for the Government’s Finance Minister to amend.
The ruling, which is being appealed, said that the Constitution provides for the Finance Minister to present the Budget since the finance of the country is the responsibility of the Executive. For the Opposition to cut the Budget and then approve it would mean that the estimates are no longer that of the Finance Minister, but that of the Assembly.
Chief Justice Chang argued that “if the Assembly were permitted to cut the Minister’s estimates, the estimates, when cut, would necessarily become the estimates as fixed and determined by the Assembly and would cease being the Minister’s estimates.”
“If the Assembly has the power to cut the estimates in relation to one line item, then, as a matter of principle, it would have the power to cut each and every line item. Assuming that the estimates in relation to each and every line item were to be cut to $1, it can hardly be said that the estimates as cut remain the estimates of the Minister.”
The CJ had also ruled that the Speaker of the House is mandated to ensure that the standing order of the National Assembly, which governs how that legislative body operates, confirms with the Constitution.

Krish bai, why dont they do the easy thing and disapprove the worst budget ever presented in the history of Guyana.

Let dem CUT like the two sided razor blades they are. We gat the Consolidated Fund and Uncle Bobby.

Agreed with you fully ASJ.