Just as the 12th Parliament was convened, business got underway almost immediately when the National Assembly approved a total of $11.2 billion for 22 constitutional agencies for the remainder of the 2020 fiscal year.
The 12th Parliament was convened at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.
Public Works Minister, Juan Anthony Edghill, assumed responsibility for the Finance Minister portfolio and presented the current and capital estimates for these bodies. No Finance Minister has been appointed as yet by the new administration.
Among the agencies that had their 2020 budgets approved in its entirety for the period ending December 31, 2020, is Parliament Office, which got $1,799,248,000.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) received a whopping $4,943,052,000; while the Supreme Court of Judicature got $2,443,164,000.
Another $908,636,000 was approved for the Office of the Auditor General, the Chamber of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) received $226,822,000, while the Ethnic Relations Commission got $220,802,000, and the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) secured $206,460,000.
The National Assembly further approved a total of $150,636,000 for the Public and Police Service Commissions. The Teaching Service Commission received $117,075,000 for remainder of the fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman got $70,001,000 and the Women and Gender Equality received $58,327,000.
An additional $46,095,000 was approved by the House for the Rights of the Child Commission along with $40,911,000 for the Public Service Appellate Tribunal.
The Human Rights Commission secured $25,958,000, while the Indigenous People’s Commission got $24,392,000 and the Judicial Service Commission received $10,020,000.
The budgets for these constitutional agencies were approved in the absence of the APNU/AFC Opposition members. They had walked out the sitting following the opening remarks by newly elected Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir
