BUDGET MANIPULATION for any nation is a serious offense. In Brazil, it led to the premature ouster of President Dilma Roussef by the Lower House of Congress which accused Rousseff of using accounting tricks in managing the federal budget to maintain spending and shore up support. Dilma had charged that previous presidents used similar maneuvers and stressed that she has not been charged with any crimes or implicated in any corruption scandals.
ALTHOUGH DILMA RECEIVED a boost this week when a report prepared by analysts in the Brazilian Senate found that there was no evidence to suggest she was personally responsible for fiscal wrongdoing, the saga in Brazil shows the serious implications budget manipulations can have on a country.
IN LIBERIA, the issue came to light during a recent Cabinet meeting when President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf mandated that punitive action awaits any line Minister who engages in budget manipulation process while being subject to the vetoing of the specific unauthorized appropriation, which runs contrary to the draft budget originally submitted to the National Legislature.
THE DRAFT NATIONAL Budget for 2016/2017 of US$555.9 million, comprises US$495.5 million for Core Domestic Revenue; US$30.2 million as Grant; and US$30.1 million as Contingent Domestic Revenue. Prior to the President submitting the budget, the Cabinet, approved the Draft National Budget of over US$600-million, representing Domestic Revenue of more than US$400-million, Grants/Budget Support of more than US$66-million, Borrowing of over US$58-million, and a surplus from last year’s budget of over US$13-million.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA REVELATION MONDAY drew some strong reservations from Mr. Isaac Redd, Director of Press and Public Affairs at the Lower House of the National Legislature who concluded that the President can either work her concerns out with her Budget Committee at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning or veto part or whole of the budget but cannot recall the budget once it is with the Legislature.
SAID REDD: “If there is any such thing like budget manipulation it has to be done with the branch that implements the budget. Under our laws, it is the very Executive. If she does act ultra-virus and recalls the budget, which is possible, she will be undermining her programs and projects for 2016/2017 because she can’t spend outside an approved budget.”
PART II, SECTION 2 (2) OF THE PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ACT IS CLEAR THAT: “Except for the authority to submit the Proposed Budget to the Legislature, the President may delegate to the Minister, any of the authorities and powers conferred to the President under this Act, subject to terms and conditions specified by the President at the time of the delegation, Such delegation, however, does not discharge the responsibility of the President with regard to this Act.”
Section 6 STATES: “(Authority and Responsibilities of theirs); No monies shall be drawn from the treasury except in consequence of appropriations made by legislative enactment and upon warrant of the President; and no coin shall be minted or national currency issued except by the expressed authority of the Legislature. An annual statement and account of the receipt and expenditure of all public monies shall be submitted by the office of the President to the Legislature and published once a year.”
AMID THE DEBATE over the powers of the executives, some constitutional scholars say there are two types of powers inherent in the authority of the President: Express and Implied. The executive powers clause of the constitution vests the government and sovereign powers to manage the country in the hands of the President.
THE BUDGET LAW requires the President to submit a budget to the Legislature once each year. In practice the budget is submitted as a bill. The power to recall is implied in the executive authority of the president concurrent with the requirement to submit a budget. That is, the president can recall the budget for revision at any time before it is passed by the legislature. Typically, the budget negotiation should cure any defect in the budget. But this extraordinary use of this implied power shows that the president’s concern over legislative manipulation aided by certain members of the executive is so grave, she wants to do a top down review of the submission. Implied powers concept is based on:
IMPLIED POWERS, in the United States, are those powers authorized by a document (from the Constitution) that, while not stated, seem to be implied by powers expressly stated. For example, when George Washington requested Alexander Hamilton to defend the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States against the protests of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph, Hamilton produced what has now become the classic statement for implied powers by arguing that the sovereign duties of a government implied the right to use means adequate to its ends. “Although the United States government was sovereign only as to certain objects, it was impossible to define all the means which it should use, because it was impossible for the founders to anticipate all future exigencies. Hamilton noted that the “general welfare clause” and the “necessary and proper clause” gave elasticity to the constitution. Hamilton won the argument with Washington, who signed his Bank Bill into law.
WHILE WE ARE UNSURE how the President will go about her plan to give the budget a second look, we feel strongly that in order for Liberia to survive the ongoing global economic downturn, a lot of sacrifices will have to be made and it will require those at the top of the ladder to cut down on unnecessary expenditures like the extravagant allotment of gasoline and fuel, said to be in the millions and a host of other damning allotments that deny decent and hardworking folks at the bottom of the economic ladder a fair shot at the economic pie.
IT SADDENS US that many of those elected to public office and even those appointed by the President would betray public confidence by inserting allotments beneficial only to themselves but painfully to the detriment of the suffering masses.
IF LIBERIA MUST turn the corner and restore its economic sanity after a painful and protracted civil war, we must begin to make sacrifices that will show international stakeholders that we mean well for the people we serve.
BUT IT MUST begin and end with those in authority; they must set the pace in motion for the rest of the country to follow. If new information suggest that some sinister allotments are hidden in the budget that could give a political advantage to some of those in position of power, we support any initiative that aims to put things in check and save Liberia much needed coppers that could go toward the construction of a school, a hospital or road project in some hard-to-reach areas.
BUT WE MUST not stop there. Those found culpable should be brought to book, interrogated, investigated and made to pay for attempting to manipulate the budget for the own selfish greed.