MONROVIA – The recast National Budget has sparked controversy as some lawmakers argue that it was passed clandestinely without the involvement of the majority members of the House. Therefore, they are calling for a thorough deliberation of the Budget before it is sent to the Senate for concurrence.
By Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
The decision to pass the recast National Budget for 2023 was made on Tuesday by “a handful” of lawmakers. However, on Thursday, some lawmakers argued that the Budget was passed by only a few lawmakers, showing complete disregard for established laws and procedures regarding budget passage.
On Tuesday, the Plenary of the House of Representatives transformed into a committee of a whole and passed the draft recast budget amounting to US$759.4 million. This move was in accordance with President George Weah’s request for them to do so.
Tuesday’s passage came as a surprise to many as the Plenary had initially stated that they would not deliberate the passage of the Recast Budget until the Office of the President had supplied each lawmaker a copy of the Budget in accordance with the law.
However, without confirming whether it received copies of the draft budget as requested from the President, or submitted it to its Committee on Ways, Means, and Finance for scrutiny and recommendations, the plenary invoked a clause within its rules that allowed it to override the provision calling for all bills to be read three times before taking action. As a result, the budget was passed without undergoing the usual three readings.
But at Thursday’s session which turned out very heated, majority of the lawmakers, especially from the opposition bloc, claimed not to be aware of the passage and claimed that it was passed by only seven members of the House.
Speaking on the contentious passage of the Budget, Lofa County District 3 Representative, Clarence Massaquoi told journalists in the House Chambers that they will continue to rival the passage until it is redone rightly.
“The manner in which the Budget was passed – it was done under a cloud of darkness and the House is trying to unravel the darkness to ensure that the right thing is done,” Rep. Massaquoi said.
Also speaking to journalists, Bong County District 3 Representative, Marvin Cole, a member of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) said, the passage of the Recast Budget is an embarrassing situation for the government.
“We don’t want anybody to embarrass this government; the Budget must be brought back and we’ll discuss it and then the Budget will be passed… The Budget will come back, that’s why the Speaker is under pressure to ensure that the Budget is not transmitted to the Senate in its gross form,” Rep. Cole said.
Other lawmakers contend that for the Budget to be passed, there must be a recall vote which was totally ignored by the few who gathered on Tuesday to pass it.
Some aggrieved lawmakers have also threatened to remove the Speaker, Bhofal Chambers, over what they termed as “an embarrassing passage of the Budget”.
Upheld or withheld?
As a way forward, a motion for the extension of Thursday’s session to Friday and that Thursday’s agenda be made part of Friday’s agenda was accepted. But as FrontPage gathered later, some lawmakers misunderstood the motion as proffered by Rep. Johnson Gwaikolo (District #9, Nimba County), Chairman of the Rules, Order and Administration Committee.
In his motion, Rep. Gwaikolo called for the decision to pass the Recast Budget to be upheld, but plenary convened on Friday to complete the discussion of some Legislative matters. The lawmakers thought that Rep. Gwaikolo had used the termed “withheld.”
Rep. Gray, addressing a team of reporters Thursday night at the Capitol after session was adjourned, said the motion clearly stated that the decision to pass the budget stands and legislatively, it is legitimate. He said the Speaker remains in full control of the House as he has the majority number on his side. Defending the decision to pass the budget hastily, Rep. Gray said it is a recast instrument and not an original budget – and as such it does not necessarily require forwarding to Committee room for prolonged review. He also added that the lawmakers, as per their rules, are expected to adjourned session and there was no room for delay.
Why Recast the 2023 Budget
In March of this year, the Legislature approved a national budget of US$782.9 million for fiscal year 2023, which was subsequently endorsed by the President. However, as the fiscal year progressed, President Weah approached the Legislature and highlighted the need for a recast due to various challenges that hindered the achievement of the budget’s initial projections.
The main factor contributing to the budget’s underperformance was the occurrence of several economic challenges. These included a reduction in the volume of trade, the expiration of surcharges on petroleum, a decrease in tariff on excise for petroleum, and a prolonged decline in global market prices for export commodities in the mining sector. These factors resulted in revenue shortfalls in both tax and non-tax categories during the initial two quarters of FY2023.
President Weah expressed that this underperformance presented difficulties in implementing the budget during the first half of the fiscal year, leading to the need for early reprioritization and program deferrals in some instances.
As a consequence of these challenges and the 3.5 percent shortfall, equivalent to US$23.5 million in domestic revenue, it became evident that achieving the previously projected amount was risky and untenable. To ensure that the year-end spending aligns with available resources, adjustments were made to the program allocation balances of various spending entities, distributing the risk evenly among them. Nevertheless, certain critical priority allocations, such as those for the upcoming elections and the national electricity grid, were protected and ring-fenced.
Following the recast, the revised expenditure estimate for recurrent expenses stands at US$612,558,028, accounting for 80.7 percent of the total proposed expenditure. Meanwhile, US$146,857,790, or 19.3 percent of the total proposed expenditure, has been allocated for public sector investment.