BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DEPUTY LEADER of the People’s Action Movement and Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Number Eight, the Hon. Eugene Hamilton contends that the fact that Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas has not yet tabled the Budget is in contravention of the Constitution, and should he seek to do so he would again be in contravention of the supreme law of the land.
Speaking exclusively with SKNVibes, Hamtilton addressed a number of comments which he said were made by the Prime Minister and Minister of Health, the Hon. Marcella Liburd. These - he informed - surround elections, the pending 2013 Budget and the Motion of No Confidence.
Hamilton said he is aware of statements that Dr. Douglas and Liburd made suggesting that the government needs to table its Budget in order to complete its programme.
He drew attention to Section 71 (1) of the Constitution which states, “The Minister for the time being responsible for finance shall cause to be prepared and laid before the National Assembly before, or not later than sixty days after, the commencement of each financial year estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Government for that financial year.”
He suggested that “the word ‘shall’, in this context, is a mandatory term. In other words, it must be complied with. You cannot do something outside of that term and think that you are within the realm of the Constitution.
“So when the Prime Minister allowed the 60 days to pass without presenting a budget, he would have committed a violation against the Constitution...Section 71. And if he proceeds now to take a budget to Parliament, he would again be proceeding on an act in direction contravention of the Constitution”.
The Member of Parliament is of the view that in order to effectively deal with this dilemma, the Motion of No Confidence – which was filed in early December 2012 - should be tabled or fresh elections should be initiated.
He further explained that following elections, the government – whether his own or another – would have 90 days in which to table a budget.
And anticipating questions of how the government would be able to pay for the elections without a budget, Hamilton suggested a solution which he said is in keeping with the Constitution of St. Christopher and Nevis.
He made reference to Section 73 of the Constitution which reads: “(1) If it appears to the Minister for the time being responsible for finance that - a) there is an urgent need to incur expenditure; b) no provision exist for that expenditure in any appropriation law or other law; and c) it would not be in the public interest to delay the authorization of that expenditure until such time as a supplementary estimate can be laid before the National Assembly, the Minister may, by special warrant, authorize the issue from the Consolidated Fund of the money required to meet that expenditure:”
He expressed that this cancels any statement that elections could not be held without the tabling and passage of the 2013 Budget.
“In other words, the Prime Minister doesn’t need a budget to have an election. If there is an urgent need to have expenditure, there is no budget from which to expend it, he can create a special warrant for the sums that are needed to run the elections.
“So don’t let them fool anybody into believing they can’t have an election because they don’t have a budget. What they are giving is a ruse! It’s a nonsense argument! And so for people to go on national radio and make such stupid statements is ridiculous. What that tells you is either they are not knowledgeable of the way the Constitution or government should work – which I don’t believe – or that they set about to bemuse. They are using their language and their positions to make a trap for fools, and people ought not be fooled by people who they elect into positions of power or in office.”
Suggesting that there is “trickery at work”, Hamilton said, “…I have heard them say, ‘How can we have an election and there is no money budgeted to have an election?’ I have heard they say, ‘Civil servants are not going to get paid if we don’t have a budget.’ I want you and the general public to appreciate what the Constitution says about those things, so I refer you to Section 71 of the Constitution which directs what should happen. So too does sections 72 and 73. And it makes liars out of those who claim that they need a budget to be able to conduct elections.
“Let me state categorically that people need to understand and appreciate that Parliament is Parliament and government – the Executive Branch of government – is government. They are two different and distinct institutions, and the work of Parliament must not be thwarted by the conduct of the Executive Branch of government. Parliament must do its work, Parliament must not be subjected to what is going on now because the government is afraid to conduct its business.”
