We will cut the budget if necessary – Greenidge

TIMES INT'L

The main opposition political party, the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) says it will not be deterred from making amendments to the 2013 National Budget, especially if they find it necessary to reduce financial allocations made to a certain sector for which they believe should not receive the sum suggested in the budget.
Shadow finance minister and APNU’s executive, Carl Greenidge made this announcement at the party’s weekly press conference on Tuesday.

Shadow Finance Minister Carl Greenidge
Shadow Finance
Minister Carl Greenidge

Greenidge said, while the budget may be the largest ever, he believes that it lacks basic elements that are essential for addressing the needs of the entire Guyanese populace.
Referring to statements made by government which indicate that the opposition can either agree or disagree on the budget, Greenidge said this is not so.
“I find it very difficult to understand any view that may suggest that a Parliament can perform meaningfully, that is consistent with its responsibilities if the powers to amend a budget are removed from it,” the APNU MP stated.
Parliament, he said, is not only for persons to air their views, but to give effect to those views, because they represent a constituency.
He went on to question where outside of central government authority, a decision can be made to only approve a budget in total. The last budget saw the government moving to the courts to stop the amendments made by opposition parties. Greenidge however said that a court’s ruling could be challenged by the Parliament and is not the final decision.
Greenidge stated that no new law has been passed and therefore the opposition still enjoys the power it had since the beginning of the new dispensation.
He said, “we will not be constrained in anyway by a perception that we have less power than last year, yet alone a perception of being toothless because if that’s the case, then we need not meet and we could just email the budget…”
Greenidge believes that this year’s national budget is just a repeat of previous years and contradicts reality and what is needed to be done to improve the livelihoods of Guyanese.

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