NCN, GINA, GPL cut – despite Speaker’s warning against vindictiveness
April 19, 2013, by , Georgetown, GINA, Source
With the ruling by the Speaker of the House on April 16, that the National Assembly has the authority to cut the estimates of expenditures of the 2013 National Budget, the slashing of the funds continued with a vengeance during today’s sitting.
Despite the claims by the combined parliamentary opposition that if there were satisfactory answers to questions, there would be no cuts applied to the national budget as per the motions laid before the House with that intention; both the Alliance for Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) exercised what the Speaker had warned against, a vicious and vindictive slash of the funds allocated for the information arm of the office of the president, Government Information Agency, and the National Communications Network.
Despite the Speaker’s admonition, that the power to cut should not be used vindictively, today’s actions were contrary to this warning.
Under the 2013 budget, GINA was slated to receive $135.8M, while NCN was to receive $81.3M to supplement their operations. However, AFC and APNU were unconvinced that the agencies required the amounts proposed, and voted to cut all but $1 from each entity.
No questions asked of GINA
Blatantly noticeable, was the fact that while questions were addressed to Minister within the Ministry of Finance Juan Edghill to answer on behalf of the two agencies, the only questions posed focused on NCN, a point that was remarked upon by the Minister and acknowledged by the Speaker without further comment.
Minister within the Ministry of Finance Juan Edghill
GINA’s subvention was piggy backed with the NCN allocation when the move to cut the allocations was made and the funding for both were cut simultaneously.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall addressed the question raised about the return of the funds to the two agencies when they were slashed from the 2012 budget.
He explained that Government had moved to the court with respect to the cuts and based on the ruling by the Chief Justice, the Finance Minister had accessed funds from the Consolidated Fund and returned it to the agencies. He had the power to do this based on the Constitution of Guyana.
An attempt to create a debate over this issue was quickly shot down by the Speaker of the House who indicated that this process would serve no purpose since it was the clear intention of the two parties to cut the funding to the two agencies.
The fact that GINA’s function is aimed solely towards the promotion of the programmes, policies and projects of the Government of the day, did not matter to the opposition and they dismissed the opportunity to pose questions regarding the agency.
All the funding allocated for the Office of the President was subsequently approved with the exception of the subventions earmarked for GINA and NCN.
Failed bid to cut newly created First Lady’s office
A failed attempt was made by APNU’s MP Greenidge to cut funding allocated to the newly created Office of the First Lady with an allocation of $10M after their partners in the AFC supported the newly created office.
Minister of Education Priya Manickchand voiced her displeasure with Greenidge’s attempt to belittle the office. A vibrant activist and champion of women’s rights in Guyana, the Minister subsequently warned APNU’s women members of the danger of not supporting other women.
Electrification project cut
Even as warnings were sounded about a black future for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) through the cutting of subsidies allocated, $5.2B was cut from the $10.2B allocation made towards the electrification programme under the Office of the Prime Minister. The subsidy was slashed despite the suggestion that this may force tariff increases. Ignoring this warning from Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh the cut was implemented.
The opposition MPs were unconvinced by the answers to their questions provided by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and appeals by Dr. Singh left them unyielding.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds
Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman asked PM Hinds to indicate the possible effect of the cut and he responded that it may result in less fuel and equipment being purchased.
Apart from this cut in funding, all other funding coming under the Office of the Prime Minister were approved without amendments. These include funding for the Guyana Defence Force, Office of the Ombudsman, the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, the Parliament Office and the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.