Despite a decision by acting Chief Justice Ian Chang ruling against the opposition being able to cut the budget, former Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran says that agreement can be reached by the two sides.
“Stripping away the complexities from the Chief Justice’s analysis, a procedure can be discerned for approval of a budget. Based on his ruling, the opposition cannot cut or reduce, but may withhold its approval, for specific items in the budget,” he noted.
“Upon the conclusion of the consideration of the estimates, during which the opposition will no doubt withhold approval for substantial portions of it, the Minister of Finance can then submit amended estimates of a reduced sum to take account of the exclusion of those portions of the items, or sub-items, which the
