…Opposition says of caretaker Govt moving ahead with 2020 Budget preparations
Despite the passage of a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against the Government and the fact that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has said Government should be in caretaker mode, preparations have commenced for 2020’s Budget. This is in implicit violation of the CCJ’s ruling of the functions of a Caretaker Government following a NCM.
The CCJ ruled on June 18 that the Government was defeated by a vote of NCM, meaning early elections must be called. But just three days later, the Ministry of Finance issued a circular to commence preparations for Budget 2020 with specific timelines for Budget Debate in November, which is beyond the proposed date for new elections as proposed by the Opposition in a concession to the exigencies of the appeal by the Government to the NCM’s passage.
The circular, which was leaked to the media, is dated June 21, 2019. The document gives instructions to department heads, permanent secretaries, regional executives and heads of constitutional agencies. The document was issued under the hand of the Finance Secretary, who stated in the correspondence that the missive was penned as the delegated authority of the Minister of Finance, pursuant to Section 13 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act.
In it, they are given deadlines for making submissions to the Ministry and completing aspects of Budget preparations. For instance, these officers were given until August 7, 2019, to hand in their Budget submissions.
The Budget agencies were given between August 19 and September 27 to consult with the Ministry on their submissions. October 10 was named as the date to present the constitutional agencies’ budgets to the National Assembly.
The circular also named November 25, 2019 as the date to present the overall budget in the National Assembly. Affixing his signature to the circular is the Ministry’s Finance Secretary, Michael Joseph.
In several parliamentary democracies, such as New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan etc., there are explicit “Caretaker Conventions” and in those that do not, the practice is to follow the precedents in these jurisdictions. A fundamental tenet in these conventions is that only routing functions of the Government must be maintained and there can be no initiative that will bind any new incoming Government to policies with which they do not agree.
On Wednesday, following the issuance of the circular, former Junior Finance Minister Juan Edghill lambasted the Government for issuing the circular. Edghill had also urged these technical officers not to succumb to pressure from the Government and to save themselves from culpability in illegal actions.
“It is unbelievable that a Government that was defeated by way of a No Confidence Vote on December 21, 2018 who by way of spurious and incredible arguments of a ‘34 majority theory’, used the legal system to buy themselves seven months and counting to implement a Budget that they had no mandate to implement,” Edghill expressed in his statement on the matter.
Edghill noted that rather than offering goods and services to all the people of Guyana, the Government used questionable processes of procurement to award contracts to its “political allies, friends and families to shore up political support”.
The letter, which was sent to all heads of Budget agencies and departments including constitutional bodies, came eight days after a definitive and explicit ruling from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and in face of the operationalization of Articles 106 (6) and (7) of the Constitution.
“Is someone being delusional, or is it plain stubbornness? Or maybe it is a mentality that is being exposed that this Government believes that it can continue to hang on to power indefinitely. How desperate can one be? So the charade continues. Government operatives used an argument of the ‘34 majority theory’ to implement the 2019 Budget, and now they hope to use the argument of House-to-House registration to buy themselves more time, so that they can formulate, prepare, and present a 2020 Budget,” he added.
The former Junior Finance Minister noted that, Winston Jordan, who resigned on December 21, 2018, is presumptuously pursuing a path of provocation by causing the circular to be issued.
“We, in the PPP/C parliamentary Opposition, will not allow this folly and untamed ignorance, coupled with the brazen arrogance of this APNU/AFC Government to go unchecked. No Caretaker Government, which is the current status of this Granger-led Coalition, should be allowed to be this blatant and disrespectful in its conduct. To pursue this illegality is to create an environment for collision and confrontation, rather than conciliation and preserving the well-being of our people. “
He added that the provisions in the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act provide for a Budget by March/April 2020.
“A Budget which defines the vision, priorities and programmes for the prosperity and development of all the people of Guyana by a Government that is legal, constitutional and democratically elected through free and fair elections is the only one that will be accepted”.
Legal implications
Meanwhile, when asked about this new development, Attorney-at-Law Sanjeev Datadin explained that the issuance of a Budget circular at a time like this is not in keeping with the Court’s ruling. He pointed out that Parliament, in fact, has to be dissolved following the passage of a NCM, so elections could be held.
Datadin, who played an important part in the recent CCJ cases as the legal representative for former Alliance for Change (AFC) Parliamentarian Charandass Persaud, found the move puzzling.
“The Government can’t engage in doing a budget. What they have to do, the country has to go to an election. We anticipate that will happen within the next three months of the Court’s ruling.”
“So we find it very strange that they issued a circular to that effect… because of the No- Confidence Motion, Parliament is supposed to be dissolved forthwith. This is certainly not in keeping with the current situation and it’s certainly not in keeping with the ruling of the Court,” Datadin added.
“A Budget which defines the vision, priorities and programmes for the prosperity and development of all the people of Guyana by a Government that is legal, constitutional and democratically elected through free and fair elections is the only one that will be accepted”.
Legal implications
Meanwhile, when asked about this new development, Attorney-at-Law Sanjeev Datadin explained that the issuance of a Budget circular at a time like this is not in keeping with the Court’s ruling. He pointed out that Parliament, in fact, has to be dissolved following the passage of a NCM, so elections could be held.
Datadin, who played an important part in the recent CCJ cases as the legal representative for former Alliance for Change (AFC) Parliamentarian Charandass Persaud, found the move puzzling.
“The Government can’t engage in doing a budget. What they have to do, the country has to go to an election. We anticipate that will happen within the next three months of the Court’s ruling.”
“So we find it very strange that they issued a circular to that effect… because of the No- Confidence Motion, Parliament is supposed to be dissolved forthwith. This is certainly not in keeping with the current situation and it’s certainly not in keeping with the ruling of the Court,” Datadin added.
