Out of the 2018 budget, the Office of the Prime Minister has spent millions of dollars on Constitutional reform. However, observers are questioning what exactly this allocation was used for, as there seems to be little to no movement on an issue the coalition Government based part of its 2015 campaign on.
This revelation came out of questions that were posed to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo by the Parliamentary opposition. The questions sought to find out how much of the $109.2 million allocated to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat under the sub heading ‘other’ was spent. In addition, the Opposition wanted to know what it was spent on.
In his response, Nagamootoo revealed that $21.4 million of the amount has been spent as of August 2018. Of this amount, $5 million went towards Constitutional reform “activities”. Apart from this, $5.5 million was spent on launching regional radios at Aishalton, Bartica and Orealla. Some of the money also went towards
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo
training the radio personnel, and on Nagamootoo’s “outreach activities”.
Some $4.6 million was also spent on a supervisory consultancy for the regional radio project, while $1.2 million was spent on information technology and web services, and $1.6 million on events and functions. In addition, another $1.4 million was spent on repairs to furniture at the official residence, and on office and carpets. The remaining amounts, according to the Prime Minister, were spent on expenses like cell phones and work study students’ stipends.
Constitutional reform
The need for Constitutional reform has been touted over the past few years, especially since the current coalition Government had made a commitment to ensuring that this is done. But little has been said by the Government in this regard. In fact, many persons in civil society have spoken out against the current administration for its silence on the matter, especially because it had been a campaign promise. It was only in August that former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Member of Parliament Dr Kwame Gilbert had urged the implementation of constitutional reform before 2020.
“The call for constitutional reform cannot be any louder than it is right now. The justification for it is in the continuous need to strengthen governance, balance the power of the Executive, and ensure a more accountable and responsive Government,” he told Guyana Times in an interview.
According to Dr Gilbert, the Constitution which Guyana inherited post-independence, while it has benefited from several significant constitutional amendments, still remains inadequate in addressing what he described as “mischief endemic in, and symptomatic of, our current sociopath-political realities in Guyana.”
“There are several social and political considerations which distinguish Guyana from the rest of her Caribbean and continental neighbours. These distinctive characteristics demand a particular culture, climate, and conduct which can only be secured through constitutional provisions,” he said.
Gilbert also noted that Guyana has suffered extensively from the attendant evils consistent with the continued use of what he also described as a backward proportional representation (PR) electoral system. This is an electoral system in which parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them.
“This system has created and maintained political polarisation and ethnic tension consistent with a single-party domination system of politics. The PR system, commonly referred to as the party list system, robs the citizens of true representation, and has zero accountability. It is woefully ineffective in building a strong democracy,” Dr Gilbert has opined.
