Of Budgets and Wish Lists: A CONVERSATION WITH CHIEF SECRETARY LONDON A government simply cannot run its business by guesswork, year in, year out. By Vanus James Professor and Senior Fellow, Scotiabank Chair, University of Technology, Jamaica Story Created: Nov 3, 2013 at 5:28 AM ECT Story Updated: Nov 3, 2013 at 5:28 AM ECT Here is how the conversation went, not word-for-word but ‘in so many words’. Chief Sec., nowhere in the THA law can you find a provision that you can send to Trinidad anything remotely resembling a ‘wish list’. It is not an excuse to say that ‘all ah we’ did it in the past. Moreover, Mr. Isaacs must speak for himself and your team, not for Hochoy or Denoon, and such folks. I know enough to say, confidently, that Hochoy did not submit any wish lists to Trinidad. Section 41(1) of the THA Act specifically requires submission to the Assembly of “draft estimates of revenue and expenditure respecting all functions of the Assembly”. No wish list there. You have to mean it and the Assembly has to approve it – in all seriousness. When the estimates are sent to Cabinet as required by the law, Cabinet also has to take them seriously. There is no legal basis to treat them as a wish list and no provision for spite and bad blood. In s.43. Cabinet is required to be fair to Tobago - “allocate financial resources to Tobago as fairly as practicable”. You are damaging the interests of Tobago when you put such things in Hansard. Correct the record and make it clear to all of Tobago that whatever you sent you meant – all 4.95 billion of it. Yes, said the Chief Secretary, not word for word but in so many words - I admit that was a mistake and I will take action to correct the record. Information for good budgeting should be addressed in correcting the record – Use of proper information when budgeting is the best way to remove the bright stain of loose budgets and wish lists. It is this very problem of loose and irresponsible budgeting that the PRDI was designed to prevent. A government simply cannot run its business by guesswork, year in, year out. You must appeal to proper facts, so you cannot be accused of gouging out the eyes of Trinidad. The refusal to obey the law and collect information and statistics is the best evidence that the THA is messing around with the peoples’ business – Tobago or Trinidad. So, to remove the stain of wish listing, you have to obey the law and collect the information and statistics. Moreover, when it comes to monitoring and evaluation of budget performance in Tobago, this data collection is not a CSO function, it is a THA function. Agreed? OK, said the Chief Secretary, I will move to act on this; not word for word, but in so many words. The next thing I came here to say is, if you promise the people a budget in the interest of transparency and accountability, bring one. Don’t bluff and wave hands with a list of ‘priorities’ that only you and your team can interpret. The priorities can only be properly interpreted by the public if they fit into a budget. Part IV of the THA law specifies the minimum you have to do. First, bring estimates of Revenues. Second, bring estimates of expenditure. Properly done, the Estimates of Revenue indicate how much is expected from all sources, including: (1) $$ from the Consolidated Fund, including $$ of revenue collection – with details; (2) $$ expected from other measures, such as public-private partnerships; (3) $$ expected from grants for the development partners; and (4) $$ expected from extraordinary mechanisms such as BOLT. If you are going to do BOLT, indicate the rules and the expected cost to the Tobago tax payer. Tell us the public oversight and monitoring arrangements you will use to avoid corruption. With respect to the Estimates of Expenditure, the minimum necessary are the $$ under the heads of expenditure by each Division. Business people need these allocations to guide their investment decisions – same as every other private citizen. Government is the biggest spender here and we all need to know how much it will spend, and on what. Even more important, your budget must be accompanied by clear measures of how the spending and revenues will affect economic growth and inflation. On Thursday, you promised to turn a new page of transparent and accountable budgeting, so when you bring the budget, tell us as accurately as possible what it will do for us. This is not about cussing Trinidad and it is not political old talk! Any proper budget must be supported by the back-up documents. In Trinidad, government normally publishes a “Review of Fiscal Measures” to show how spending and related policies would affect growth and inflation. Just as important, government normally publishes a Review of the Economy. These are not meant to be political manifestos. They are professionally done assessments. Where is the professionally prepared Review of the Tobago Economy? Such documents would show our record on growth and our record on inflation. They would show what is happening to food prices here, as compared to Trinidad, and so on. They would show what 12 years of spending have done to our current prospects for growth and development. All of these documents are needed so the people of Tobago can judge for themselves whether the budget presented makes sense or if it is indeed a bundle of wishful thinking. They are the very stuffing of transparency and accountability. It is a big disgrace, to say nothing of open disrespect for the society, to announce a new budget and produce no supporting documents so that people can make up their own minds if the budget is good or if it is bad. Yes, I agree you are right. I will speak to the Secretary of Finance and get some action on these things. Sir, listen. Incumbents in the THA cannot signal impatience with democracy when the first sign of opposition shows up. You surely cannot do that with 12-0 in your hand. The statements by Isaac showing impatience with criticism should be withdrawn immediately. Let me remind you, ‘we the people’ are your employers. It is the people of Tobago who should tell you to shut up; it is not the right of the Chief Secretary, Mr. Isaac, or any one on your team to tell any citizen to avoid criticism of the government. Criticism of our government is a sacred right of every citizen – and it comes without any penalty or any threat of vengeance. Mr. Issacs was out of place! It was a declaration of war on the media and the people – a war that you and Isaac cannot win. Time to back off and declare for freedom of criticism! Finally, there is the question of whether Tobago could pay its way, and so properly demand $4.95 billion of allocations from the central government. This is the heart of the whole matter. When you came lambasting the People’s Partnership, you should have brought proper evidence that we are contributing our fair share and more. The TTEITI has published a report which some claim to show that only 1% of the energy revenues come from Tobago! What about that, Chief Sec? They are talking only about Block 22. What are the true figures on the share of the energy revenues that come from Tobago? Treat with this issue if things are so bad and desperate with the allocations sent up from Trinidad! Publish the correct figure with your budget, so the people of Tobago can know the truth. While at it, also publish the true share of the total revenues of the country that comes from Tobago. Ok, said the Chief Secretary, I promise to address this urgently. This conversation was very very useful. As I was leaving the Chief Secretary’s residence, I observed, but Orville did not hear - Block 22 sits well outside the 6-mile boundary of the current law. It also sits outside the 11 mile boundary proposed by the Prime Minister in the election campaign of January 21, 2013. If TTEITI admits that Block 22 is somehow in Tobago, what other Blocks outside the 6-mile limit are in Tobago? See it yet? See it now? Over to you Orville. The rest of us will be watching carefully to see if, as promised, you will act on these matters on or before the next sitting of the House.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 15:31:10 +0000
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