The most hilarious news item of the month: New Ministries created by Granger illegal – PPP/C

May 24, 2015 By GuyanaTimes

By Vahnu Manickchand

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is claiming that the establishment of several new Ministries by the newly elected A

President David Granger

Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government is illegal. During a press conference held at Freedom House on Friday, the party’s Executive Members highlighted that the new Government is creating new Ministries without following the proper legal procedures. Former President and Executive Member of the PPP/C, Bharrat Jagdeo, explained that the formation of new Ministries is illegal since monies cannot be released to those entities, which are not represented in the Appropriation Act. “You cannot disburse monies to Ministries that don’t exist anywhere except by this new decree. There is no budget now at this point in time… only after the budget or in the budget process, you’ll be able to create a Ministry, have it reflected in the budget and the Appropriation Act, allocate funds to that Ministry and then you can disburse resources to it. You can’t create a Ministry today and take money from another Ministry and send it to this non-existence in law Ministry,” the former President outlined. Jagdeo further pointed out that the 1/12th rule that was adopted by the PPP/C while in power to fund the various Ministries after Parliament was prorogued, cannot be used to fund the new Ministries. This view was supported by former Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who stated that the 1/12th rule was in relation to budgetary allocations that Parliament had already approved for Ministries that were in-existence at the time. “Now you have monies being obviously spent in relation to Ministries that were not existing and did not fall under any Appropriation Act. This is being done by people, who over the last three years, you would have seen and heard championing causes of constitutional spending, lawful spending and all these novel and lofty ideals. You would have heard them advocate very loudly and you see them now, in just a matter of days, violating the Constitution, violating the financial laws, violating financial

regulations,” he noted. Nandlall went on to point out that there are a series of legislations in place that ascribe Statutory responsibilities to specific Ministers under specific Ministries, but now there are a host of new ministerial bodies. He added “so I don’t know how they will carry out their statutory responsibilities which the laws of the country would have devolved upon traditional Ministries”. Furthermore, General Secretary of the party Clement Rohee, said that creating new Ministries also carry legal implications since many bills were passed in Parliament, giving specific Ministries responsibilities to implement those pieces of legislations. A few days after Leader of the APNU+AFC coalition David Granger was sworn in as Guyana’s eighth Executive President following the May 11 polls, the new Government opted to reduce and rename several of the Ministries that were established under the 23-year reign of the PPP/C. Some of the new Ministries established by President Granger include the Ministry of Citizenship, the Ministry of Governance and the Ministry of Presidency, formerly known as the Office of the President. The Ministry of Social Cohesion has replaced the Culture and Youth Ministry; while the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs was renamed the Indigenous Peoples Affairs Ministry. The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security was renamed the Ministry of Social Protection, while the Ministry of Health was renamed the Ministry of Public Health. Also, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development has been rebranded the Ministry of Communities. This latter Ministry will envelop the Housing, Water and Local Government Ministries. On the other hand the Ministry of Business is expected to be responsible for internal trade, information and communication technology. The Ministry of Sports was included under the Education Ministry. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Security has replaced the Home Affairs Ministry. Meanwhile, on the issue of the budget, the new Finance Minister under the APNU/AFC Government, Winston Jordan, has indicated that extensive consultations are ongoing with high-level Ministry staffers with a view to completing and presenting the National 2015 Budget. The Minister, who is a highly qualified financial expert, said that he inherited some of the groundwork which was already laid out by the previous Minister, Dr Ashni Singh. However, these preparations were made based on the previous Government’s priorities, but now the focus will be changed to reflect the agenda of the APNU/AFC Administration.