“Our record of progress is there for all to see” 

…Jordan says there was no abuse of the Contingency, Consolidated Funds

By Svetlana Marshall

Former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, in refuting claims that the country’s Consolidated and Contingency Funds were abused by the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government under his watch, said significant resources were pumped into the areas of housing, water, education and health and the record is there to show.

“Our record in terms of Governance and in terms of expenditure, is there for everyone to see, and there is a record of progress,” Jordan told Village Voice News on Saturday.

In an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Friday, Senior Minister responsible for Finance in the Office of the President, Dr. Ashni Singh said the state of public finances under the APNU+AFC Administration was not “nothing short of disastrous.”

He said due to excessive taxation placed on the backs of the private sector and citizens, the APNU+AFC Administration raked in G$992B in revenues between the period 2015 and 2019.

“Despite this huge revenue collection, the then Government utilised these funds in an unproductive manner through wasteful and inefficient government expenditures with total government spending amounting to G$1.2 trillion,” the Ministry of Finance said while adding that the fiscal deficit of the central government amounted to G$130B over the five year period.

For the avoidance of doubt, Jordan made it clear that all of the funds taken out of the Consolidated Fund were submitted in the form of Budgets and Supplementary Budgets to the National Assembly and were approved by the Parliament.

“There were five budgets, and those five budgets were passed in Parliament, and we spent according to that,” he said. He reminded that the 2019 Budget was approved by the National Assembly in December 2018, and a Supplementary Budget was approved in 2019 for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to facilitate General and Regional Elections, and to pay Trinidad and Tobago construction company Dipcon, in accordance with a 2015 court judgment.

“In 2020 we had no budget but the Constitution provides that where the National Assembly is dissolved the Minister of Finance is authorised to permit expenditure of the Central Government, and when the Assembly meets after the dissolution, those expenditure shall be submitted to the National Assembly, and debated as they are included as part of the appropriation,” the former Finance Minister explained.

Minister Singh, in his interview with DPI, had also accused APNU+AFC Government of abusing the Contingency Fund, when it took a decision to withdraw “large sums” notwithstanding the fact that the National Assembly had successfully moved a No-Confidence Motion against it.

According to the Minister of Finance, a total of $4.2B was withdrawn from the Contingency Fund.

“Much to our astonishment and during the latter part of 2019….after the Caribbean Court of Justice’s (CCJ) ruling in June 2019….no less than G$4.2B was drawn from the Contingency Fund to meet a variety of expenditure that had not been budgeted for,” Minister Singh said.

But Jordan said it is time the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration stop with the red herring.

“After two years of not using the Contingency Fund in 2017 and 2018, we were forced to use the Contingency Fund in 2019, when we had to make a payment to GuySuCo for lands handed over to the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA),” Jordan explained. Based on his recollection, that was the only time advances were taken from the Contingency Fund.

Jordan said the PPP/C Administration should stop with the “feel good statements” and “red herrings” and focus on critical issues facing Guyanese as they grapple with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said many are without internet access and technological devices needed to participate in e-learning, while others are in need of financial assistance to stay afloat.  Jordan said the PPP/C had an opportunity to present the nation with a people’s budget but instead presented a private sector budget.

“There is no coherent plan; there is a lot of wasteful expenditure. They brought out a budget that has got the biggest deficit in the history of this country…,” Jordan said.