Speaker of the National Assembly Clarissa Riehl yesterday accused the PNCR-1G of being flippant in asking questions during the second day of consideration of the 2007 Budget Estimates in the Committee of Supply.

Riehl chided the Opposition MPs and said they were wasting time. She expressed the concern that with the line of questioning that the PNCR-1G was following, the consideration of the estimates would not be completed within the allotted time.

In addition to the protestations of the Deputy Speaker, PPP/C MP Gail Teixeira and Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee spoke out against the questioning from the opposition.

Rohee said that the questioning by the opposition was “unprecedented” in the consideration of the estimates.

The PNCR-1G MPs raised repeated questions about amounts allocated for 2007 in a number of sectors in the regions and in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.

One of the main speakers for the opposition James McAllister said Minister of Local Government Khellewan Lall was being evasive and he was not making a serious attempt at answering the questions. Almost at the end of the consideration, McAllister surmised that Lall couldn’t answer the questions posed to him.

Most of the concerns centred around the payment of contract employees in the various regions and in the ministry, the condition of repaired roads and the allocation of funding for projects that were said to be continuing into 2007 but were not on the project profile for 2006.