Government’s spending extends beyond the $700,000 that is expended for each prliamentary sitting, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has said.
According to Jagdeo, this is just the tip of the iceberg, as he accused Government of spending taxpayers’ money exorbitantly on other things such as travel, hotels and even confectionaries.
“We have also been honing in on some other excesses too. For example, in several Ministries, we’ve seen an inflation of interior travel and hotel bills,” he said on Thursday.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary claimed that Government will charter an aircraft or book more seats that they require and then
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo
they don’t use all of them.
“And rather than the Treasury being reimbursed for the non-use of the seats or hotel rooms, they defer their use and at some point in time they either, individuals or party activists, use those flights into the hinterlands and the hotel rooms that are booked,” Jagdeo alleged.
In addition, the former President also posited that his party is still in the process of confirming that approximately $90,000 is being spent on confectionery for a specific Ministry, per month.
“We have seen figures and we’re just confirming this where one Minister’s office buys about $90,000 of confectionery every month,” he said.
Furthermore, the Opposition Leader also lamented on the possibility that taxpayers are being forced to pay for the medical insurance of Government officials and their families.
He recalled that when there was a big outcry about private insurance being contracted for Cabinet members and their families for medical treatment abroad, Government had explained that Ministers were supposed to reimburse the other part of the premium that they had to pay.
“We gathered no reimbursement took place last year and in fact for this year, the full premium has been paid for these Ministers and their families for medical
President David Granger is surrounded by his Ministers of Cabinet
treatment abroad, using taxpayers’ funds again,” Jagdeo told media operatives.
“So there are a ton of other similar things that are happening and the alcohol use in Parliament is the tip of the iceberg,” he further noted, asserting that “it will be interesting to find out what the alcohol use is in some of the Ministries.”
According to Jagdeo, these can easily be verified if an audit is done.
“… because there will be bills available. Hopefully there will be bills available unless they’re using other heads for example they will [use] money from national events to dietary. … (masking) the true level of spending on these things.”
Earlier this month, it was brought to the public’s attention that approximately $700,000 was being spent on food for every sitting at the National Assembly.
Jagdeo had offered his input, highlighting that while he was unsure of the exact number, the cost, which seemed exorbitant, was not being spent on food for the parliamentarians alone, but that monies were also being spent on alcohol for parliamentarians in the VIP Lounge.
Shortly after his revelation, Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes refuted the Opposition Leader’s assertion, noting that alcohol was only consumed in the Parliament Building on special occasions and during the Christmas season.
Jagdeo told media operatives on Thursday that Hughes was “telling a blatant lie.”
While the debate continues over whether in fact alcohol is served to Guyana’s legislators on a regular basis or on special occasions, Clerk to the Parliament, Sherlock Isaacs has denied any knowledge of requests made by Members of Parliament (MPs) for alcoholic beverages.
Isaacs, who is currently on leave, told Guyana Times that an MPs requesting an alcoholic drink at the VIP Longue of the Parliament has not happened before and will not be tolerated. He claimed that he is unaware of any situation where an MP requested an alcoholic drink and got one.
He reminded that MPs only indulge in the drinking of alcohol at special occasions in cases where there is a party or one organised by the Parliament. Isaacs said he cannot recall at any time where alcohol was served outside of those occasions or for any other reason.
Isaacs recently disclosed that $700,000 was spent for each sitting of Parliament. If committee meetings are to be included, it means almost $80 million would have been spent in the last three years alone overall on food.
But besides the high food bill, Jagdeo, a former President, argued that the dietary expenditure has increased tremendously under the coalition Administration.
