Gov’t undermining independence, scrutiny of constitutional agencies through budget cuts

– PPP/C

The opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) yesterday criticised the government for slashing the proposed budgets for 17 constitutional bodies, while saying the reductions would undermine their independence and see less scrutiny.

Speaking at a press conference hosted by the PPP/C, Anil Nandlall, Member of Parliament and former attorney general, told reporters that “government is violating the Constitution and the autonomy and independence which that Constitution confers upon constitutional agencies.”

He said they were “established by the Constitution and they are cloaked with functional autonomy and independence.”

As a result, they are protected from “any type of interference in the discharge of their functional responsibility...,” he added.

Nandlall said the budget of the Supreme Court has been slashed from $2 billion to $1.77 billion, the Director of Public Prosecution’s budget has been reduced from $206 million to $168 million and the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has seen a reduction from $15 million to $10 million.

He said too that over the past 17 months that the government has been in office, the opposition has seen a systematic pattern of interference.

He mentioned what he deemed to be the Attorney General’s interference in the appointment of the Deputy Registrar, who is supposed to be appointed by the JSC.

Nandlall also recalled that at a function at the Marriott Hotel, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo had said that the government would never interfere with the functional or financial autonomy of the judiciary. He said too that the government speaks about financial independence and about guaranteeing independence for these agencies.

“It is our respectful view that the opposite is taking place, both at the levels of these agencies and now at the level of the financing, their autonomy is being undermined. This does not augur well for democracy and certainly is not good governance,” he added.

PPP/C Member of Parliament Juan Edghill also told reporters that the constitutional agencies would have determined what their priorities are and what they want to achieve in proposing their budgets.

For instance, he said, the Auditor General’s office, “would have to start reorganising its priorities and something would be left out, meaning that is less scrutiny for government.”

He emphasised that whenever the government reduces the allocation of an agency, it is actually preventing itself from being scrutinised.

Although the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMAA) was amended to give effect to Article 222 A of the Constitution with regard to the annual budget appropriation for constitutional agencies with a view to giving them financial autonomy, government earlier this year used its majority to approve allocations which were less than the sums proposed by the agencies.

The law establishes the financial independence of the constitutional entities to specifically allow for lump sum payments to be made to them and to free them from the automatic obligations of budgetary agencies and the attendant discretionary powers exercised by the Minister of Finance.