PHILIPSBURG--Parliament may have approved the 2011 Budget presented by Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto in December, but that budget, some five months later, is not yet a national ordinance because it requires the co-signature of Governor Eugene Holiday to become a law.
Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams confirmed on Wednesday that this was indeed the case with the budget and that it has to now be worked out how to deal with the so-called "new budget" that had received the approval of the CFT in April.
"It is an issue that we are facing. We have to look to see what is now to be done", because by presenting the "new budget" would cancel the budget approved by Parliament but not law yet. Government is looking at the situation from different angles, but has not yet come up with "the most feasible way" to deal with the matter.
The "new budget" is under review by the Advisory Council. That council will be required to give some kind of direction on the legality of the issue of the two budgets, said Wescot-Williams.
Asked if any specific reason was given by Governor Holiday for not signing off on the budget approved by Parliament in December 2010, Wescot-Williams said that it is her opinion that he was waiting on the outcome of the talks between government and the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT about whether or not the budget was balanced.
Also Holiday may have not signed off on the budget because it did not have the approval of the CFT, a requirement laid down in a Kingdom Law, she added.
Wescot-Williams, asked whether CFT or Parliament was supreme, said that the matter has to do with the role of the governor in co-signing the budget or other national ordinances.
At present, government is using the 2010 budget as the basis for its expenditures. The "new budget" once approved by the Advisory Council will be sent to parliament for approval.
Consumer affairs Public sector cuts Wigan Athletic Lloyds Banking Group Skiing Rihanna
No comments:
Post a Comment