Government yesterday passed a motion to restrict the consideration of the budget estimates to three days, which led to accusations by the PPP/C that it seeking to avoid scrutiny of proposed spending.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who moved the motion, dismissed suggestions that government is afraid of an examination of the estimates and noted that while there were fewer days, the hours for each sitting have been extended. “Nobody’s scared of these guys. Who are these people for us to be afraid of?” Nagamootoo said.
However, opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo charged that the government was seeking to dodge opposition scrutiny. “This is a bigger budget than the actual 2014 budget. It also has several new features in that ministries were reorganised so the line-items would have changed and so, if anything, I thought they would have given us more time rather than less time to consider the estimates,” Jagdeo told reporters after the motion was passed. “How can you justify reducing the consideration from seven days to three days, if you are not afraid of greater scrutiny of these estimates?” he added.
Following the conclusion of the budget debate, the National Assembly resolves itself into the Committee of Supply to consider the estimates and supplementary estimates of expenditure and statements of excesses presented to the Assembly. The period for the consideration of the estimates usually provides the opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) an opportunity to consider the estimates line by line and proffer related question to the respective government ministers.
The government’s motion specifically called for a suspension of Standing Orders 10 (1) and (2) to extend the daily times for the sitting of the Assembly from 2pm to 11pm in order to complete the consideration of the
