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IMPROVING LIVES TODAY, BUILDING PROSPERITY TOMORROW Budget 2023 approved by National Assembly Constitutional Agencies’ Budgets get the nod from Parliament
– process continuing to go smoothly after strengthened and streamlined through FMAA Amendment in 2021
The Budgets for all Constitutional Agencies were on Monday (January 30, 2023) approved in the National Assembly after examination of the Estimates of Expenditure and queries by Opposition Members with responses provided by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira during the 59th Sitting of the Twelfth Parliament. The Agencies comprise the Parliament Office, Audit Office of Guyana, Public and Police Service Commissions, Teaching Service Commission, the Guyana Elections Commission, the Supreme Court of Judicature, Public Prosecutions, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Public Service Appellate Tribunal, the Ethnic Relations Com- mission, the Judicial Service Commission, the Rights Commissions of Guyana and the Public Procurement Commission.
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The process for approval of the Estimates of Expenditure of these Agencies continued smoothly, as it had in 2022 following the December 29, 2021 Parliamentary approval of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Amendment (FMAA) Act which was successfully piloted at the time by Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh during the 34th Sitting of the Twelfth Parliament. The legislation was amended from what it was previously during the tenure of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC)
Administration and has since strengthened and streamlined the Budget process for these Constitutional Agencies while also preserving their independence. Amendments made to the former legislation include those that were made to ensure better accountability and set out the practice and procedure to which these Constitutional Agencies must conform in terms of the management of their subventions for the efficient discharge of their functions.
Last week, both sides of the House participated in five days of debates on the 2023 Budget which was presented to the National Assembly on January 16 by Senior Minister in the Office of the
