No Confidence Motion… GECOM signals intention to prepare for general elections

Chairman of the Guyana Election’s Commission (GECOM), Dr Steve Surujbally

Two days after the Alliance for Change delivered a letter to President Donald Ramotar expressing its intent to table a No Confidence Motion against the Government, the Guyana Elections Commission, (GECOM) has put out a public notice signaling that it is preparing for General elections.

According to the notice, which was published in yesterday’s edition of the Guyana Chronicle, GECOM stated its intention to prepare the preliminary list for the elections given its powers under the National Registration Act.

The notice, which was signed by GECOM’s chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally, outlined that in pursuance of the powers conferred on the Elections Commission by sections 14 of the National Registration Act, Chapter 19:08, the Commissioner of Registration is directed by the Commission to prepare a preliminary list.

The preliminary list is taken from the central register established under section nine (1) of the National Registration Act. The list contains entries, records of the full names, addresses, occupations and serial numbers of registration records of every person, who is qualified for registration with reference to the October 31, 2014 as an elector for elections to the National Assembly and the Regional Democratic Council.

On Friday last, the Alliance For Change (AFC) delivered a letter to President Donald Ramotar, outlining its intent of issuing a No Confidence Motion against Government.

According to the letter, the AFC sees no other alternative than to proceed with this constitutional mechanism “for removal of an unpopular Government that has ceased to enjoy the confidence of the National Assembly.”

The AFC accused the Government of demonstrating unlawful and contemptuous actions and showing disregard for the Supreme Law of the Country.
The ‘action’ to which is being referred, is the spending by Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh of $4.5B of the $30B that was disapproved by the combined opposition in the 2014 Budget.

The Finance Minister then went ahead and took the monies from the Consolidated Fund without the approval of Parliament.
The Constitutional Fund is the Fund “into which all public monies are placed and out of which all public expenditure should be met, only on the authority of Parliament.”

The Minister, in justifying the legitimacy of the $4.5B expenditure, pointed to Article 218 (3B) of the Guyana Constitution which reads: “If in respect of any financial year it is found—that any moneys have been expended for any purpose in excess of the amount appropriated for that purpose by the Appropriation Act or for a purpose for which no amount has been appropriated by that Act, a supplementary estimate, or as the case may be, a statement of excess showing the sums required or spent shall be laid before the Assembly by the Minister responsible for finance or any other Minister designated by the President.”
This provision, Singh said, had been in the Constitution ever since 1980, and further, a Statement of Excess is not unknown to the political opposition, since over the past two years they would have approved at least 58.9 per cent of the amounts on three Statements of Excess that he has tabled as a result of the various budget cuts.

However, Ramjattan asserted in his letter to the President that the withdrawal/s from the Consolidated Fund was “unconstitutional” and “unauthorized.”
He said that it is the party’s belief that “such withdrawals as reported in Financial Paper #1 of 2014 are in clear contravention of Article 217 of the Constitution of the Republic of Guyana and Section 16 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act [FMAA].

Article 217 of the Constitutions says “All revenues or other moneys raised or received by Guyana (not being revenues or other moneys that are payable, by or under an Act of Parliament, into some other fund established for any specific purpose or that may, by or under an Act, be retained by the authority that received them for the purpose of defraying the expenses of that authority) shall be paid into and from one Consolidated Fund.”
While Section 16 of the FMAA outlines that “there shall be no expenditure of public moneys except in accordance with Article 217 of the Constitution.”

However, while the main opposition party, A Partnership for National Unity, APNU remains “somewhat undecided,” on the issue, a member of the coalition has expressed concerns regarding the next general elections.

In a letter addressed to the editor of Stabroek News, APNU Member of Parliament, James Bond noted that there is no point to the no- confidence motion unless the AFC and the APNU go to the national polls under one leader.

“I for my own part will not attach myself to that wagon unless the AFC and APNU after attaching themselves to this wagon decide that they would contest the next general elections with one representative of the list….It would be utter foolishness for there to be a vote of no confidence in the House and when we are out of the House we divorce and go our separate ways.

“It is time for the leadership to rid itself of those conspiracy theories… the APNU are the brothers and sisters of all races, who want to move this country forward and set things right…”

Do not waste my time and the people of Guyana’s time if you are not prepared to make a bold and correct decision. We should have done this since 2011. It’s time we lay the groundwork now,” the MP urged.