The essential fact is that this Committee is a Committee of the House responsible to the House as a whole, and is not a battleground for party faction…. I believe it is true to say that the authority of the Committee is greatly enhanced by its unanimous character and I hope the complete objectivity of its report. It is fair to say that many Honourable Members of both parties have made great endeavours and have sometimes sacrificed personal views to ensure that this shall be so.
The late Sir Harold Wilson, Chairman of the
UK Public Accounts Committee 1959-1963
The Minister of Finance recently announced that the Government has so far received an amount of US$36,169 in interest by investing the Exxon signature bonus of US$18 million overseas instead of placing it into the Consolidated Fund where no interest would have been earned. This statement is, however, not entirely accurate. Had the decision been taken to place the money in the Consolidated Fund, the local currency equivalent would have been credited to the Fund, and ownership of the foreign currency would have passed to the Bank of Guyana, a State-owned entity. The Bank would then include the amount in its portfolio foreign assets which it invests overseas in keeping with its normal Central Bank operations. At the end of the year, the Bank transfers 90 percent of its net profits to the Government via the Consolidated Fund, as provided for by the Bank of Guyana Act. The effect is almost the same in terms of the return on the investment, with the added assurance that there will be no violation of Article 216 of the Constitution and Section 38(1) of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act. That section states that, “all public moneys raised and received by the Government shall be credited fully and promptly to the Consolidated Fund…” (emphasis mine). To the extent that the signature bonus is kept outside of the Consolidated Fund, both a constitutional and legislative violation continues to take place.
The Minister explained when the funds are needed, a Supplementary Estimate will be tabled in the National Assembly requesting authorization of the use of the money after which transfers would be made to the Consolidated Fund. However, as the guardian of the Consolidated Fund, the Assembly is unlikely to authorize the withdrawal of any earmarked funds unless they are first placed into the Consolidated Fund. In 1999, the previous Administration had given a similar assurance in relation to the Lotto Funds which were held in a special bank account at the then Office of the President and used to incur expenditure without parliamentary approval. That assurance was honoured in the breach up to the time it vacated office in 2015.
