Opposition’s behaviour in National Assembly reckless and irresponsible - Teixeira
- threaten tripartite budget talks
Georgetown, GINA, February 16, 2012
Source - GINA
From left: Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds
and Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh
The joint parliamentary opposition’s non-approval of sections of financial paper number seven of 2011 and number eight of 2011 is classified as irresponsible and reckless behaviour by the government.
These sentiments were expressed by People’s Progressive Party Civic’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh and Minister within the Ministry of Finance Juan Edghill, who convened a post-assembly media-briefing after this evening’s adjournment of the National Assembly.
Disappointing and irresponsible
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds expressed disappointment in the manner in which today’s proceedings developed.
“We are very disappointed in how things went this afternoon in the House in particular. Four of our heads were not carried in the replenishment of our contingencies fund and we find it very astonishing that monies that were spent in hosting the investiture of the orders of Guyana, that it was disallowed along with expenditure on the swearing in of the new president,” Prime Minister Hinds said.
Hinds said that things collapsed on the issue of the very standard arrangements that are made to bring into the consolidated fund the monies that have been advanced in the foreign funded projects.
“This has been seen all along as a matter of a book entry, entering this money into the books of our country and there could hardly be questions of lack of transparency as all of these foreign funded projects are listed in detailed and made public…they also appear in detail in the budget, the sections that deal with capital projects…this may be a matter of form and formatting,” Hinds said.
Mr. Hinds believes that the act of the joint parliamentary opposition to not approve the financial obligations but rather hold out that government should return with the proposals is disappointing and irresponsible, as in one instance it dealt with the payment of wages to staff of the General Register’s Office for overtime work during the registration period of elections.
Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh said the matter of bringing financial papers to the parliament for approval is a process that is governed by applicable law and has the benefit of time honoured parliamentary custom and practice.
“Over the years preceding the tenth parliament and the government’s successive terms in office financial papers have been brought to parliament both to seek original supplementary appropriations and to clear advances made by the contingencies fund for the purposes of replenishing that fund,” Minister Singh said.
Alarming
Minister Singh believes that the coming together of the opposition to withhold approval of very legitimate expenditure that was incurred in accordance with the law is very alarming.
“What we witnessed today was the coming together of the APNU and the AFC to withhold parliamentary imprimatur being granted to expenditure that was incurred from the contingencies fund in accordance with the law…this expenditure was incurred in the interest of providing goods and services to the people of Guyana,” Minister Singh said.
Members of the National Assembly in discussions
The Finance Minister believes that it is astonishing to see that approval was withheld after items such as expenditure incurred for the payment of staff of the General Register’s Office (GRO) during the ongoing Registration period as the staff worked overtime to ensure that eligible persons receive their birth certificates so to be qualified to vote.
“At the time that the decision was approved for the payment of the staff of the GRO the Ministry of Home Affairs requested a sum to be paid to the people and it was granted… details have been provided in depth as to who these people are and the hours worked, nevertheless it was still not approved… one has to ask oneself on what purpose was approval withheld on a matter like this,” Minister Singh said.
The Finance Minister believes that the action of the joint parliamentary opposition is an indication of their intentions to frustrate the parliamentary sessions and stymie the continued development of the country, which is a direct threat to tripartite budget and other talks.
Unwillingness
Meanwhile Teixeira said that the joint parliamentary opposition’s behaviour in today’s proceedings demonstrated the level of their willingness to cooperate and collaborate with government for the continued development of the country.
“The voting of APNU against expenditure for business in the hinterland locations, a $2.7M electrification related projects saw APNU breaking ranks with AFC as the vote was not lost…the count of the vote was 39 for and 24 against with AFC voting for and APNU voting against…this indicates that the opposition, particularly APNU is saying that they want to see development for Guyana but on the other hand their behaviour contradicts it,” Teixeira said.
Teixeira also said that it blows one’s mind to think of such reckless behaviour on the part of the opposition as their action indicates explicitly their unwillingness to work collaboratively and cooperatively with government.
“Their actions today not only disappoint the government’s side but also the people who voted for them as they show that they are not in favour to stand by their own words of putting Guyana first and stymieing the process of development of the country…this also threatens the process of tripartite collaboration but nevertheless government will remain committed to engaging the opposition in talks,” Teixeira said.
- threaten tripartite budget talks
Georgetown, GINA, February 16, 2012
Source - GINA
From left: Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds
and Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh
The joint parliamentary opposition’s non-approval of sections of financial paper number seven of 2011 and number eight of 2011 is classified as irresponsible and reckless behaviour by the government.These sentiments were expressed by People’s Progressive Party Civic’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh and Minister within the Ministry of Finance Juan Edghill, who convened a post-assembly media-briefing after this evening’s adjournment of the National Assembly.
Disappointing and irresponsible
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds expressed disappointment in the manner in which today’s proceedings developed.
“We are very disappointed in how things went this afternoon in the House in particular. Four of our heads were not carried in the replenishment of our contingencies fund and we find it very astonishing that monies that were spent in hosting the investiture of the orders of Guyana, that it was disallowed along with expenditure on the swearing in of the new president,” Prime Minister Hinds said.
Hinds said that things collapsed on the issue of the very standard arrangements that are made to bring into the consolidated fund the monies that have been advanced in the foreign funded projects.
“This has been seen all along as a matter of a book entry, entering this money into the books of our country and there could hardly be questions of lack of transparency as all of these foreign funded projects are listed in detailed and made public…they also appear in detail in the budget, the sections that deal with capital projects…this may be a matter of form and formatting,” Hinds said.
Mr. Hinds believes that the act of the joint parliamentary opposition to not approve the financial obligations but rather hold out that government should return with the proposals is disappointing and irresponsible, as in one instance it dealt with the payment of wages to staff of the General Register’s Office for overtime work during the registration period of elections.
Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh said the matter of bringing financial papers to the parliament for approval is a process that is governed by applicable law and has the benefit of time honoured parliamentary custom and practice.
“Over the years preceding the tenth parliament and the government’s successive terms in office financial papers have been brought to parliament both to seek original supplementary appropriations and to clear advances made by the contingencies fund for the purposes of replenishing that fund,” Minister Singh said.
Alarming
Minister Singh believes that the coming together of the opposition to withhold approval of very legitimate expenditure that was incurred in accordance with the law is very alarming.
“What we witnessed today was the coming together of the APNU and the AFC to withhold parliamentary imprimatur being granted to expenditure that was incurred from the contingencies fund in accordance with the law…this expenditure was incurred in the interest of providing goods and services to the people of Guyana,” Minister Singh said.
Members of the National Assembly in discussionsThe Finance Minister believes that it is astonishing to see that approval was withheld after items such as expenditure incurred for the payment of staff of the General Register’s Office (GRO) during the ongoing Registration period as the staff worked overtime to ensure that eligible persons receive their birth certificates so to be qualified to vote.
“At the time that the decision was approved for the payment of the staff of the GRO the Ministry of Home Affairs requested a sum to be paid to the people and it was granted… details have been provided in depth as to who these people are and the hours worked, nevertheless it was still not approved… one has to ask oneself on what purpose was approval withheld on a matter like this,” Minister Singh said.
The Finance Minister believes that the action of the joint parliamentary opposition is an indication of their intentions to frustrate the parliamentary sessions and stymie the continued development of the country, which is a direct threat to tripartite budget and other talks.
Unwillingness
Meanwhile Teixeira said that the joint parliamentary opposition’s behaviour in today’s proceedings demonstrated the level of their willingness to cooperate and collaborate with government for the continued development of the country.
“The voting of APNU against expenditure for business in the hinterland locations, a $2.7M electrification related projects saw APNU breaking ranks with AFC as the vote was not lost…the count of the vote was 39 for and 24 against with AFC voting for and APNU voting against…this indicates that the opposition, particularly APNU is saying that they want to see development for Guyana but on the other hand their behaviour contradicts it,” Teixeira said.
Teixeira also said that it blows one’s mind to think of such reckless behaviour on the part of the opposition as their action indicates explicitly their unwillingness to work collaboratively and cooperatively with government.
“Their actions today not only disappoint the government’s side but also the people who voted for them as they show that they are not in favour to stand by their own words of putting Guyana first and stymieing the process of development of the country…this also threatens the process of tripartite collaboration but nevertheless government will remain committed to engaging the opposition in talks,” Teixeira said.