Lack of finance minister causes parliament hitch
By Gitanjali Singh
The absence of a minister of finance in Parliament yesterday led to a State Pension Order being withdrawn from the sitting and debate on the Caribbean Investment Fund Bill being deferred. Speaker of the House, Derek Jagan, ruled in favour of PNC leader, Desmond Hoyte, who noted that the motion for the order could not be tabled in the name of the minister of finance, nor could debate proceed on a bill in the name of the finance minister, when there was no minister. Since the accession to the presidency of Mr Bharrat Jagdeo in August, the country has been without a finance minister. Mr Jagdeo is still performing the functions of finance minister and is presently out of the country. Leader of the House for Government Business and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Reepu Daman Persaud, had tabled the State Pensions (George Walcott) Order to increase the former University of Guyana vice-chancellor's pension to $30,000 per month. However, Hoyte rose on a point of order, during the request to move the adjournment of the National Assembly on matters of urgent public importance, stating that the tabling of the motion was a breach of the constitution, the municipal laws and the Standing Orders of the National Assembly. The Speaker, at that point, stated that Hoyte should have raised the issue when Persaud was moving the motion but Hoyte persisted in explaining his position. He argued that there was no minister of finance in Guyana and while under the constitution the President could discharge the functions of a minister, he was not a minister and therefore could not intervene in the National Assembly. Hoyte stated that under the Standing Orders, any document laid in the National Assembly had to be by a minister but in the absence of a minister for a particular portfolio, that ministerial portfolio could not be used to table motions. As such, he noted, the motion had to be withdrawn (not that the PNC was opposed to the motion but rather supported it). The argument is that if the motion is to be tabled, it has to be under a ministerial portfolio currently held. The PNC leader said he had no problem with having debate on the matter deferred to another session to allow the government benches to consider the laws and Standing Orders. The Speaker then, with the concurrence of the House, recalled the state pension order. And Housing Minister, Shaik Baksh, who moved to start the debate on the Caribbean Investment Fund Bill, also listed under the portfolio of the minister of finance, was stopped short by the Speaker on the grounds that the issue had to be ironed out. That item was adjourned pending the determination of the issues raised by Hoyte. Persaud then noted that that bill had been tabled by the minister of finance earlier in the year, but the Speaker reminded that a similar situation had occurred when Asgar Ally had resigned as finance minister and he ruled that a motion had to be withdrawn. The government has said repeatedly that a new finance minister will be appointed but to date no announcement has been made. Two of the key contenders for the post are Bank of Guyana official Gobind Ganga and Neermal Rekha of the Ministry of Finance.
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