– over breach of legal procedure
The A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) has moved to the High Court to quash the decision of the National Assembly to approve funds for 23 Constitutional Offices.
The Coalition has singled out the Audit Office of Guyana, for breach of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act of 2015. On September 1, 2020, the House approved $11.2B for the Constitutional Agencies.
In a Fixed Date Application (FDA) filed by APNU+AFC Member of Parliament (MP) and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), David Patterson against the Attorney General and the Minister of Finance, Patterson, through his lead attorney, Roysdale Forde, SC, is asking the High Court to make seven declarations and orders, chief among them, is a declaration for the Budget approved for the Constitutional Offices and in particular, the Audit Office, to be nullified.
“A declaration that the consideration and or approval of the Budget and or Budget Proposal of the Audit Office of Guyana without the prior submission to the National Assembly by the Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee is bad in law, null and of no legal effect and a breach of Section 80 B (2) of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act of 2015,” Patterson said in his application.
He also wants the Court to declare that failure to circulate the Budget Proposals of the Constitutional Agencies to APNU+AFC Members of Parliament before September 1, is also a breach of the Accountability Act.
“A Declaration that any appropriation in respect of the Constitutional Agencies pursuant to consideration and approval by the National Assembly on the 1st day of September, 2020, is null, void and of no legal effect,” he further asked. To prevent further breach of the Accountability Act, Patterson has asked the Court to restrain the Finance Minister and or his agents from disbursing monies to the Constitutional Agencies.
In support of Patterson’s application, his lawyer laid down 24 grounds to support the nullification of the Budget approved for the Constitutional Agencies.
Forde, in the application, said that the Budget for the Constitutional Agencies was considered and approved on September 1, 2020 during the first Sitting of the first Session of the 12th Parliament of Guyana.
“As at the 1st day of September, 2020, no member of the National Assembly was elected as the Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee,” the Senior Counsel pointed out while noting that it was not until September 16, 2020 that Patterson was appointed Chairman of the PAC.
It was argued that while Section 80 B (1) of the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Act mandates that the Chairperson of the PAC submit the Budget of the Audit Office to Parliament, Forde said no such submission was made by Patterson, because the Government had already usurped his authority.
“In the circumstances, the purported approval of the Budget Proposals of Constitutional Agencies are in breach of the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Act of 2015 and are without any legal validity,” Forde argued.
He added: “As a member of the National Assembly it is right and proper that the applicant insist and demand that there be full and complete compliance with the relevant statutory requirements to ensure compliance with the provision of the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Act of 2015.”
In an attempt to justify Government’s actions, the Attorney General Anil Nandlall had pointed to the fact that there was no National Budget in place for the first nine months of 2020 due to the political situation that had confronted Guyana. He said in the absence of a Chairman of the PAC, who ought to be appointed by the Opposition, Government thought it best to move ahead with the process.
However, Forde in an earlier interview with Village Voice Guyana said the Attorney General’s response is an admission of a conscious and deliberate breach of the law.
