We will not abandon our people in the face of budget cuts– Attorney General

The projects that have been cut from the 2013 National Budget have denied thousands of Guyanese employment, directly and indirectly, and as a result, government will not sit idly by and watch people suffer, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall has stated.

“The PPP has always stood with the Guyanese people as it faced every form of adversity, from colonialism to independence, and then, when confronted with the brutal PNC dictatorship, we stood with them and led them to democracy, and we will not desert them, we will stand with them against this tyranny of one,” the Attorney General stated.

“We have to go with what we have and then see how we can get what we have been denied. We still have a lot of work to do unlike the… pure callousness that has been displayed by the opposition and the disregard for the people’s interest and the people’s welfare. We have to lead this country, we are the government, we are a mature political organisation, and we have to behave that way, we have to behave responsibly and lead the country out of this tragedy.”

Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall

The end of the 2013 Budgetary estimates and debate resulted in cuts to several transformational programmes such as the Specialty Hospital, the Amaila Falls Project, the Low Carbon Development Strategy Programmes and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Expansion Project. These were as a result of the political opposition voting to bar or significantly reduce the funding for these and several other programmes. The cuts have since evoked criticisms from numerous stakeholders.

The $208.8B budget which was aimed at maintaining the nation’s economic growth, and providing opportunities for every segment of society, should be examined holistically, the Attorney General noted.

Speaking during an interview on the programme, “Under the Microscope”, the Attorney General said, “One must look at the 2013 budget in a contextual whole, having regard to what is going on globally.”  He said that what happens in one part of the world affects what happens in other parts.

Citing the Caribbean, he explained that traditionally strong economies like Barbados are now experiencing the worst economic times in 40 years since Independence. “Trinidad and Tobago, probably the strongest economy in the region, recorded negative growth again in the year 2012. Jamaica currently is still awaiting the green light from the IMF to present their budget. Just recently they devaluated their dollar close to $100 for one US$1”.

He pointed out that smaller islands such as St. Vincent, Antigua, Dominica and St. Lucia have been heavily hit with a decline in tourism, “So much so that they have been forced to borrow money from International Financial Institutions to even pay their public servants, and the public sector wages, and they of course have been recording negative growth for the last three to four years. That is the state of the Caribbean economy and the world economy, and it is in that context that one must look at the 2013 budget”.

Cuts

The Legal Affairs Minister slammed the opposition’s cut to the subsidy to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) saying that even if they had an issue with the management of the entity, cutting the Government’s subsidy cannot be the solution. “Cutting the subsidy can only have one consequence. That consequence means that either we have more black outs so that we reduce the generation of electricity or secondly we increase the light bills, that is the only consequence. Cutting the subsidy will not change the management structure or change the management problems at GPL.”

The Attorney General said he felt even more strongly about the cut to the Specialty Hospital, for the simple reason that health care of a competent type and a modern nature is a facility that is considered by all civilised nations as a basic human right. “The right to life includes the right to healthy living. When you look at constitutions around the world, and you look at judges who have interpreted what the fundamental right to life means, they expanded it to include the right to health care, the right to all modern amenities which are available to every human being everywhere in the world. That is why every single country prioritises health care in their expenditure.”

He also said that health is something that no one can play politics with as not only supporters of the PPP but, all Guyanese are entitled. Referring to the recent medivac of AFC’s Nigel Hughes from Region Nine, the Attorney General noted that, “It’s not that the Opposition is unaware of the importance of medical care to the people of this country, but the political principle to which they subscribe, the political posture which they have assumed makes them oblivious to the importance of health care to the ordinary Guyanese people. Whatever problems they may have had with the way the contract was proceeding can be addressed. Cutting the project down completely, decimating it can’t be the sensible strategy to deal with the concerns to which you have,” he stressed.

The cut in the transport sector of the Public Works Ministry which will negatively affect the expansion plans of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport was also criticised by the Attorney General who said that many countries, including several in the Caribbean, are pursuing similar plans. “You will see that Barbados just completed an airport, Trinidad a few years back built a modern airport and they are expanding it now. Jamaica built a modern airport; Dominica is building an airport right now, so right across, these are countries that have economic difficulties, yet they are proceeding with airport expansion and renovation type projects. The reason being is that this is a stimulus for development.”

An expanded airport with better facilities will also result in improvements in the tourism sector as the larger aircraft which are increasingly being used are pressed into service, not to mention the increased competition which will see lower airfares for all Guyanese.

Precarious position

The fact that contracts have already been inked for the Specialty Hospital and CJIA expansion has left Government and Guyana exposed to a high level of liquidated damages and contractual liability that will see Guyanese taxpayers’ dollars being used to pay for the recklessness of the opposition. Compensation has to be made for breach of the companies’ contracts.

Regarding the cut in funding for the Amaila Falls project, Minister Nandlall noted, ironically, that millions of dollars were approved by the opposition to construct the 187 -kilometre roadway to the proposed site, but funds for the actual hydro project were cut. “What are you building the road to, for what? There is nothing at the end of the road unless you put the Amaila falls project there, because it’s a road in the middle of nowhere”.   Given the fact that the challenges facing GPL will be too expensive to fix and all stakeholders including the opposition recognise this, the Attorney General said it makes the cuts pursued by them even more incomprehensible. He said that worldwide many countries are seeking to use renewable energy resources and even the PNC, decades ago, started to prepare for this.

Development a casualty

Asked about the opposition’s intention to institute cuts to various sectors of the 2013 Budget, which was announced months previously, Minister Nandlall said that government had hoped to appeal to the sense of national interest, “That we could have brought them to recognise that the political agenda that they are pursuing would not be advanced in any form or fashion, that if you cut these expenditures which are proposed,  the only result which will flow will be an assault on the welfare of the people of our country, that development of Guyana will be the casualty when you cut this budget. And, you will not win any political points from the government or even from civil society.”

The private sector, religious and Amerindian organisations and other key stakeholders have expressed their support for the budget and have appealed to the political opposition to reconsider their position.

Fallacy

Government recognises that the cuts are anti-development, unconstitutional and unlawful and will do everything lawful to restore the allocations excised from the 2013 National Budget. The Chief Justice has already ruled that the Opposition has no power to reduce the budgetary allocations. The interpretation of Parliamentary Speaker Raphael Trotman was incorrect with regards to the ability of the parliamentary opposition’s ability to reduce or disapprove budgetary allocations, according to the Attorney General. “The constitution says very clearly that they have a power of approval. That power of approval cannot graduate into a power to reduce. You can either approve or not approve.”

He said that the opposition should also have the power to increase the budget if they have the power to reduce it.

“How is it they accept that they have a power to reduce but they don’t have a power to increase? If you have a power to amend, amendment will include a reduction of a figure or an increase of that figure, so you see the fallacy of the argument? How is that they accept that they don’t have a power to increase, but they have a power to amend, but that power to amend is limited to decreasing… The Chief Justice has ruled and that is the proper authority under our constitutional structure. The court is the only guardian and interpreter of our constitution, the speaker can rule a million times, but he cannot overrule the court”.

This issue of the courts’ authority on interpreting constitutions has been settled time and time again, he stated, as Parliament has certain sovereignty, but once it collides with the constitution then the court steps in.  “There is no authority in this land that can act without review by the court, none!” he asserted.

The ruling given on the opposition’s parliamentary power by the Chief Justice is legally binding and the arguments given by opposing lawyers, merely hurt the profession, according to Attorney General. The 2012 Budget cut case has been set for May 8, and he hopes that Chief Justice Ian Chang will make some comments on the Speaker’s ruling.

Minister Nandlall may approach the court to deal with the most recent budget cuts which saw the opposition chopping out $31B of the budget. “I hope that when that final ruling is given, it will bring some degree of closure on this matter. I have no doubt that persons may wish to appeal, and we encourage that because the system allows for that. That is an important part of our democracy and justice system… I would like the Caribbean Court of Justice to rule on this matter because I feel very strongly that an organisation, a constitutional structure like ours, will arrogate onto itself a belief that it is above the law and above the review by the courts; that is authoritarianism.”