General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has debunked claims that the government does not plan to seek parliamentary approval for the distribution of the 100k cash grant to Guyanese.
Dr Jagdeo clarified that the government does not plan to introduce new legislation to govern the distribution of the grant.
During his weekly press conference on Thursday, he said, “I never said that we have no intentions to seek parliamentary approval. I said that we are not going to have to pass a special Act called the cash grant Act. If we had to do that, we would have had to pass one for the business grant, and everything.”
He assured that the process will however be conducted in accordance with the constitution, which outlines that parliamentary approval is a necessary step in allocating and spending public funds.
This clarification comes on the heels of remarks made by Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram on this front, and misinformation published in local news.
“Every ordinary person would know that to give effect to constitutional provision, there is a piece of legislation, a special act that was passed. The last version of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act was passed in 2003, and that sets out exactly how public money should be spent and appropriated,” he explained at his weekly press engagement at Freedom House.
Dr Jagdeo said that clearly, Ram is not familiar with the constitutional process that governs the allocation and spending of public funds.
“Every time you pass a budget, you go to the parliament to appropriate the funds. But when the budget is passed, you cannot withdraw the funds until you have the legislative authority to do so. There is an act that is assented to by the president that then gives you the right to do so,” he said.
This act is called the, Appropriation Act, which is a crucial piece of legislation that provides the legal framework for the government to access and utilise monies from the Consolidated Fund, which is the primary account where all government revenue is deposited.
The Appropriation Act authorises the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund to finance the approved expenditure. It specifies the amount that can be spent on each program or project.
The Act is a yearly process, and a new one is passed for each fiscal year.
“It is gazetted, so they can’t claim ignorance, but there is a special act that is the authority from which the Ministry of Finance then uses to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund. If there is a supplementary during the course of the year, then there is the Supplementary Appropriation Act, assented to by President Ali,” Dr Jagdeo underscored.
Additionally, the Auditor General is responsible for auditing government spending to ensure that funds are used appropriately and in accordance with the Appropriation Act. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also plays a critical role in overseeing public finances and holding the government accountable for its spending.
“You have to appropriate it. That means parliamentary oversight. You have to go to the parliament to appropriate the money. So that means debate in the parliament…it gets passed. But even when it gets passed, you cannot withdraw the funds as yet. You then have to gazette it and it has to be assented to by the President,” the GS added.
These are all covered under the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, he explained.
He added, “It will go to the parliament. There will be a full debate there, and once it is passed, it will then have to be put into a supplementary Act, assented to by the president, published in the official gazette and only then will the funds be made available.”
Turning his attention to the flagrant violation of the constitution under the APNU+AFC government, Dr Jagdeo pointed out that this administration spent some $153 billion without parliamentary approval.
“We had to fix this when we came into office,” the GS recalled.
The announcement of a one-off $100,000 cash grant to every citizen aged 18 and above was made last month.
This undertaking will cost the treasury over $60 billion, injecting much-needed disposable income into the pockets of adult Guyanese.
Additionally, Guyanese living abroad are not left out of this development. Once in possession of a valid identification card (ID), and aged 18 and above, these persons will be able to receive their cash grant. But to benefit, they must conduct registration in Guyana, since no payment will be facilitated overseas.
Dr Jagdeo pointed out that the opposition was initially against this measure to deem overseas-based Guyanese eligible for the grant.
“They are backpedalling. They are not totally opposed to the idea now, but they were opposed to it then. Then they tried to lie by saying that I said only people in New York will get it, and that I am leaving out people from the Caribbean. That is not true. Guyanese living anywhere in the world, once they meet the eligibility criteria, they will also benefit from the cash grant,” he said.
The Ministry of Finance is currently developing a software application to facilitate smooth payout of the cash grant.