The billions of dollars slated for distribution to citizens in the form of the $100,000 cash grant will not escape parliamentary scrutiny, says the country’s Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo. The VP was at the time addressing calls for special legislation to enhance scrutiny of the expenditure.
The VP’s comments come on the heels of the opposition bloc, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), reinforcing that the distribution process be covered by legislation.
“Given the range of opinion on this policy, the proper democratic approach is to subject it to the widest debate and scrutiny by the elected representatives of the people. Further, Guyana’s constitution gives ultimate control of the national purse strings to the legislative branch,” the party said.
It also quoted Article 217 (4) of Guyana’s constitution which mandates that no moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund other than the Consolidated Fund unless the issue of those moneys has been authorized by or under an Act of Parliament.
It further noted that the cash grant was not part of the 2024 budget and would therefore be “a violation” of the constitution to proceed with its implementation without legislative approval.
But Jagdeo, in his usual style, lambasted the WPA, emphasising that no “special” law is needed. To do so, he argued, would require the establishment of special laws to govern each cash disbursement the government undertakes.
“I said that we’re not going to have to pass a special act called ‘The Cash Grant Act’. If we had to do that then we would have had to pass one for the Business Grant – for everything!”
He added that because of the constitutional requirements surrounding the extraction and expenditure of taxpayers’ monies, particularly the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act of 2003, the process is a foolproof one and takes into account the in-depth parliamentary examination required.
“You have to go to the parliament to appropriate the money, so that means debate in the parliament. So, you request a supplementary provision and it is debated in parliament – parliamentary oversight – it then 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 then we assented to by the president. So, it becomes a special act [already],” the VP explained.
