Opposition swipes $5B from OP

allocation

- NCN, GINA, One Laptop project among affected entities

In a day punctuated with protestors’ chants on the outside and disclosures of salaries at the Office of the President (OP) on the inside, a determined Opposition held true to its threats yesterday, voting against almost $5.1B.
With the considerations of the $220B National Budget expecting to wind up today, unless an agreement is reached for the monies to be approved, several major programmes and agencies which receive subventions from OP would be affected.
Yesterday’s non-approval would represent among the biggest of the Opposition’s rejections so far for this year’s budget.
Government is holding strong to its position that the Opposition breached the possibilities of negotiations, with no list of concerns tabled so far by the latter.

Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill

Already, monies for the Amerindian Development Fund – $1.1B; $910M for the Specialty Hospital and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport -$6.6B, have been voted against by the Opposition.
Up first yesterday and of no surprise was an $81.7M allocation for the state-owned television and radio stations – the National Communications Network (NCN) – and $139.8M for the Government Information Agency (GINA).
Also affected under the $3.8B Administration Service capital budget of OP, would be a $50M allocation for the Presidential Secretariat for electrical repairs and upgrades at State House; a $3.46B allocation for the Chinese-funded ICT project which included the One Laptop Per Family initiative; $24M for the Civil Defence Commission; $10M for the Guyana Office For Investment (GO-Invest); $10M for the Guyana Energy Agency and a $50M allocation for the Institute For Applied Science and Technology (IAST).
According to Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill, the non-approval affected the purchase of a new car for President Donald Ramotar…one of six new ones being bought for the OP this year. In total, OP has 102 vehicles with 15 of them to be sold this year.
Edghill, when questioned, disclosed that the Defence Board is considering a request on removing the Presidential Guard Services from under OP.
Questioned how monies for NCN and GINA that were slashed to $1 last year by the Opposition were restored without approval of the assembly, the Minister said that the Government was guided by the ruling of the Chief Justice.
This immediately led to an angry debate over the authority of the court and the independence of the National Assembly with regards to the budget.
However, Speaker of the House Raphael Trotman was not entertaining a debate on the contentious issue.
There were intense questions about GINA which has 39 staffers. Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, requested details of how the agency wanted to spend almost $140M.
Edghill disclosed that GINA’s last completed audit was in 2007 with 2008 being worked on. He will be providing the latest financials to the Opposition.
It was disclosed that NCN last year earned $476M excluding the government subvention which pushed the figure to $557M. In total, NCN has 236 staffers with 59 of them being temporary.
On the issue of the contentious audit report of a fraud investigation in 2012 and which the administration has not been releasing, the National Assembly heard the matter is before NCN’s board.
AFC MP Cathy Hughes also requested details of equipment that NCN has bought in recent years and their location.
Meanwhile, on Government’s major project to provide 90,000 poor families with laptops, there were also searching questions.
According to Minister Edghill, a significant part of the project, which includes a fibre optic cable from Brazil and the building of 54 towers across the coastland, is expected to be completed by end of July.
Under the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, it is the plan to build 100 hubs in Amerindian villages. So far, some 34,000 laptops have been distributed, with another set to the tune of $2.1B, to be ordered in the coming months.
Speaking with reporters during a break yesterday, Minister Edghill said that the administration remained flabbergasted over the decision to cut the budget of the operations of OP under the current budget.
Also affected will be the Office of the First Lady, Commissioner of Information, Presidential Guard Services, and Castellani House.
Puzzling too, he said, was the vote against of the monies for IAST, which is currently researching alternatives, including with the use of coconut, to replace the use of mercury in gold mining.
Asked what options the Government has now to pass the budget, Edghill made it clear that attempts were made to engage the Opposition in the sub-committee forum but were rebuffed at every step.
Government remains very open to negotiations, he said.