Dear Editor,
I had cause to write in 2010 about this precise matter when someone who is well schooled in the art of finance and accountancy was trying to mislead the nation that it was alright for a budget to be missed by billions of dollars. It is not alright unless the people have a clear explanation for the variance.
It would therefore be remiss of me to ignore this theatre of great ignorance that I am observing today, being played out in the Ministry of Finance, by way of a news item on Prime News created by the Minister himself.
What is a budget? A national budget is the quantitative expression of the plans of a government for the forthcoming year. It reflects the goals and objectives of the government and it give a fairly accurate assessment of the projected cash inflows and outflows from the Treasury.
What it does not do is miss the mark by G$20 billion without a proper explanation.
Knowing the information provided by the Minister was fuzzy, if not deceptive, I did not react immediately since I suspected his advisors would have identified his missteps and a corrective statement would have been issued soon after. But with so much time now under the bridge, it appears anything passes for a public statement these days in the Ministry of Finance. This precedent if left unchecked will create a credibility issue for the entire nation.
Everyone will agree with the Minister that a government will never be able to spend its budget to the exact cent; it is an estimate. But what is absolutely clear, is a Minister does not miss a target by more than 57% without clearing the air on this massive variance. The Minister had a chance at his press conference on Monday and failed to offer an explanation to the nation; rather he chose to rant and rave against a Constitutional Office for doing its work. But it is not who makes the most noise counts, it is who make the most sense that matters and so far the Minister comes across as deficient on this concept of public accountability.
As cited on page 37 of the Auditor General’s Report and as certified at the bottom of that page by the Accountant General, it was confirmed that Parliament approved the payment of G$35 billion in the 2015 Budget to repay the Public Debt, but the Minister in his wisdom only chose to pay G$15 billion. That is not an immaterial financial misstep, this is a serious shortfall in one’s promise. Therefore, when such a massive variance occurs, you account to the owners of those funds; the people. Politicians must continually reinforce in their heads that they are just mere, temporary custodians of other people’s moneys.
So if the Minister’s argument is that the G$35 billion was a rough estimate then the entire 2015 budget can be deemed a “cock and bull” budget that pulled numbers from out of the sky with no real science behind it. I have been doing budgets for most of my life, with the last one completed two weeks ago and sized at over US$90 million and on every occasion where there is a material deviation from the estimates, there is an explanation to the stakeholders. But, the taxpayers are yet to hear from the Minister as to why he chose to underpay the Public Debt by G$20 billion.
I, therefore, respectfully invite the Minister to explain to his employers, the people of Guyana, why he underpaid on the promised Public Debt repayment by some G$20 billion.
I humbly rest my case.
Yours faithfully,
Sase Singh, M.Sc. – Finance, ACCA
