| “We are going to do it just like we did the last occasion in a measured and very constructive manner” – RamjattanBy Leon SuseranThe 2013 National Budget is due to be presented soon in the National Assembly by Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh. But the Alliance for Change (AFC), already displeased about consultations and input into the budget planning, is already hinting that there could be a repeat of last year’s budget cuts to this year’s budget. Party Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, speaking with Kaieteur News in Berbice, stated that if the opposition parties are not pleased with expenditures, more cuts are possible. It is almost sure that one of the entities lined up for cuts is the National Communications Network Inc (NCN).Speaking about how involved the opposition parties including the AFC have been in the 2013 Budget preparations, Ramjattan stated that President Donald Ramotar had indicated that he would “like to see our proposals and we have given him a bundle of items including the procurement commission, including the Berbice River Bridge tolls being reduced; including Public servants’ salary increases; rice—better cultivation and drainage and irrigation systems and in relation to those very poor salaries and wages”.The leader noted that an invitation was extended to go to the Office of the President (OP) “to state what we would like to see in the 2013 Budget”, after which it was indicated through Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh and a couple of other Ministers that it might be “very difficult but that they (government) will try their best to accommodate the ideas that we (the AFC) have”.AFC Leader Khemraj RamjattanMORE CUTSPOSSIBLEHe said that the AFC and opposition intend to propose certain cuts at the time when the budget is presented to the National Assembly. “We are going to do it just like we did the last occasion in a measured and very constructive manner. We know that (National Communications Network Inc) NCN is not balanced in its communication culture and if that they [government]are not going to do anything to better that, we [are] going to ensure that taxpayers’ monies are wisely spent by cutting from NCN what NCN is getting”.Additionally, he stated that there are contract employees that need to be cut…”because there are some people at the Office of the President (OP) who get huge salaries and are not even working! People from Freedom House getting salaries and those are the things we cut, but we get the impression now that the Minister of Finance has still been paying all these people and they have been doing it out of the Contingency Fund, so we will be asking the relevant questions and we intend to get answers”.If indeed the Minister of Finance did delve back into the Contingency Fund to pay those workers, Ramjattan referred to that as a “criminal act…and breach of the Financial and Management Accountability Act”.Ramjattan said that the AFC feels that there must be a reduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) and Corporate Taxes, “and we had shared all of that with them and they indicated that there is a Tax Review Committee and that the committee will see an end to that or at least, some reforms, but today we have learnt that this is not the case”.It does not seem, therefore, that the AFC proposals sent in a couple of months ago to Dr .Singh “are going to be implemented”. He said that it was only Friday the AFC learnt that the Berbice River Bridge toll will not be reduced.PROCUREMENT COMMISSION“We understand that the Procurement Commission is going to take some more time because the PPP wants it to be delayed further, so they (cabinet) can be the master of contract- giving and contract- awarding…the longer the procurement Commission takes to be effected,Cheap MLB Jerseys 2018, and to be established and accounted, we are going to have the government of the day, dominating who will get the contracts,Cheap MLB Jerseys, and as we know, the people getting the contracts are only the favourites and friends of this government”.Additionally, the infrastructural work in Berbice—”contractors overpaying to some we have found in the Auditor General’s Report”.NO- CONFIDENCE MOTION ON ROHEESpeaking about the No- Confidence Motion on embattled Home Affairs Minister, Mr. Clement Rohee, Ramjattan stated that the crime rates have gone up, “and we seem not to have a strategy and a plan forthcoming from that Minister in relation to all these matters”. Ramjattan also mentioned the Linden shooting deaths which he noted occurred under Rohee’s stewardship.“And we do not have any confidence in him, and we are asking—based on conventions known in more popular parliaments—whereby the stewardship of a Minister is so poor, that that Minister shall resign, and especially in the context when a National Assembly also has no confidence in him”.The AFC Leader said that the party wants to let Berbicians know more clearly why they are taking this stand against Rohee. The party, he said,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, will continue to walk out of parliament whenever the Home Affairs Minister speaks.“At this stage, whenever he gets up to speak in parliament, we are definitely going to get up and walk out. We know we are putting a lot of pressure on the Assembly itself, but I think it is necessary because a No- Confidence motion is a command of the National Assembly and a Minister is accountable to the National Assembly. That is the check-and -balance in the doctrine of separation of powers. The Legislative Branch is what can hold to account the Executive Branch and ministers definitely have to answer questions…have to gain the confidence of the National Assembly. This Minister has not, and a lot of things have happened under his stewardship. It is not as if we are saying it is necessary fault—it is a political question if his stewardship has so many unsound decisions and repercussions, notwithstanding it might not be direct bearing on what he did or said,Cheap NFL Jerseys, we feel he is ultimately responsible and if he is not doing a good job to the satisfaction of the majority of the Assembly members, we feel that the Convention of Individual Ministerial Responsibility ought to apply and that is, that if the Assembly has no confidence in you, you ought to resign”.LOCAL GOV’T ELECTIONSRamjattan said that the AFC “wants to fast- track the other pieces of legislations that have been left for approval in the National Assembly. He believes this can be down within a three-month period. “If we manage to do that, [and] the President assents to it, we can have an election before the end of November”.During a sitting of the National Assembly two Thursdays ago, government successfully moved a Bill to postpone local government elections,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, pending completion of a review by a Parliamentary team. Shortly before the vote,Cheap Jerseys Supply, the combined opposition insisted that the postponement should instead be a deadline for holding elections by November the latest. According to Local Government Minister, Ganga Persaud, the postponement is critical, as four Bills that will see mandatory reforms are before a special select committee of the National Assembly.He said that the 1997 General Elections saw the establishment of a task force which was given the mandate to prepare legislative reforms. Opposition members who were part of that task force were blamed for the delays.Ramjattan stated that the AFC has begun to do preparatory work for Local Government elections in terms of campaigning and meeting with its constituents as it was doing last weekend in Berbice. “We want to tell out activists on the ground to start becoming prepared for the elections”. He does not rule out Local Government elections this year, “as a matter of fact, there is every indication that it may very well be held this year”. |
