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Budget Response 2017/2018

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Budget Response 2017/2018 BUDGET RESPONSE 2017/2018 Building a Sustainable Economy for a Better Dominica LENNOX I. LINTON Parliamentary Opposition Leader July 28th, 2017 1 INTRODUCTION Madame Speaker, colleague Parliamentarians, fellow citizens of Dominica, on behalf of the leadership and members of the United Workers Party TEAM Dominica – the Parliamentary Opposition of Dominica – it is my duty to respond to the 2017/2018 Budget Statement of the Dominica Labour Party Government delivered by the Prime Minister of Minister of Finance less than 24 hours ago on July 27th, 2017. This new normal, this outrageous limitation of the time to respond to a budget statement prepared over a number of months with input from an army of public officers under the watch of the largest Cabinet in the OECS, confirms the hostility to Parliament’s oversight responsibility for public finances that has become the modus operandi of this administration. In response to its 17 year record of consistently achieving the worst economic performance results in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, we stand on our commitment to develop and grow a model green economy that rewards enterprise, puts our people to work for decent wages, gives a fair chance to all and secures our place in the global trade of goods and services. For 17 long years, through budget after budget, this administration has spent more and more of the people’s money on making people poorer, destroying their quality of life and rendering them more and more incapable of making their own money, being their own people, taking care of their families and living lives of dignity. Its time for change. In recent years, we have lamented the enduring obsession with the same old failed policies of exclusion, secrecy and petty political partisanship that have made a complete mockery of the parliamentary oversight responsibility for preparation of the national budget and the management of public finances. 2 We have asked for the involvement of the parliamentary opposition at stages in the budget preparation cycle where it can meaningfully contribute to the annual revenue and expenditure planning exercise. We have been ignored except for that one occasion when we were disrespectfully invited today for tomorrow to listen to a panel of ruling party supporters in a so-called consultation on funding economic activities. We declined participation in the blatant partisan charade designed by 100 thousand dollar per month US based spin doctors to score political points. In 2015, in 2016, the budget response of the parliamentary opposition went to great lengths to demonstrate why the budgets of those years and the budgets of the 14 previous years lacked credibility. We made the case that these Labour Party Budgets are not the products of an effectively anchored, bi-partisan parliamentary mechanism to decide on and fund the growth and development priorities of Dominica. We advised against the dangers of driving Dominica Labour Party paramountcy to supersede the authority of our nation’s highest decision making body, for partisan purposes like having parliament routinely rubber stamp approval of budgets that are not designed to (and therefore cannot) serve as a tools to deliver the growth and development fundamentals of the Commonwealth of Dominica. The 2017/2018 budget presented on a platform of all-time high revenues from the sale of passports falls well short of showing how government will prioritize and achieve its annual and multi-annual objectives in a way that will impact the economy as a whole by placing it on a path of faster, higher growth – the undisputed major national development challenge of the last two decades. The presenter of the 2017/2018 budget says he is excited about it and we wonder why. Where is the excitement in same old, same old? Where is the 3 excitement in haphazard spending that will only lead to stagnation and further decline in the growth engines of agriculture, tourism, light manufacturing, renewable energy and the cultural industries? Where is the excitement in presiding over increased joblessness, in managing the widening and deepening poverty… where is the excitement in using more and more of people’s money on the increasingly empty promises of a better life? This budget is about protecting the selfish interest of the few who make merry in the Dominica that is doing very well while the rest of us, in the other Dominica they have made critically unwell, endure the sweltering heat of a living hell. This budget is not clear, it is not fair. It is unhinged from the realities of what the people really need, because it is the work of a regime that simply will not take heed. More of the same has not worked, cannot work and will not work. Change is a must. In the budget formulation process under the United Workers Party Team Dominica: I. We will present budget outlook and budget strategy papers for better public understanding of the fiscal strategy driving the revenue and expenditure allocations II. We will enact Fiscal responsibility legislation establishing principles of responsible fiscal management and transparency. We will operate with rules that support fiscal sustainability; anchor the formulation of the annual budget and its execution; and provide a correction mechanism after deviations III. We will Issue Medium Term Expenditure Framework guidelines IV. We will use Sector Working Groups and Ministerial Public Expenditure reviews to bring together input from ministers, parliamentarians, 4 public officials, the private sector, civil society organizations and private citizens V. We will engage a Finance Committee of Parliament, the Budget Office and Sector Hearings to consider these contributions and transform them into action-oriented proposals for the betterment of Dominica. VI. We will engage an Estimates or Finance Committee of Parliament to review and approve the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure VII. We will restrict the use of contingency warrants used to authorize unbudgeted spending, and the include in the budget, a contingency reserve for unforeseen or emergency spending VIII. We will improve the capital budgeting process with the introduction of performance budgeting across government by linking budget allocations to economic and social priorities, and enacting results- based budgeting IX. We will promote trust among citizens that government, is listening to and acting on their concerns, has a plan for achieving worthwhile objectives, and will use the available resources effectively, efficiently and in a sustainable manner. Under the watch of the UWP Government, once parliament approves the budget, allocations will be effectively implemented by the ministries and agencies of government to secure the intended development benefits. Revenue collection and spending as authorized in the budget will be subjected to proper oversight throughout the year by a properly empowered Public Accounts Committee, the Audit Department, the Budget Office and line ministries as appropriate. We will bring an end to the pigeon-holing of the Public Accounts Committee into a primary concern with audited reports on government finances and ensure that it embraces the discipline of oversight in real time. We will 5 amend the relevant Standing Orders of this House to ensure that the work of this important standing committee of Parliament is no longer exclusively dependent on reports from the Director of Audit which are usually backlogged three to four years. In other words under our watch the PAC will no longer be condemned to oversight of history while live revenue and expenditure performance goes unchecked. A UWP government will discontinue the practice of silence on the implementation of budget allocations after approval by Parliament. Under our watch, there will be periodic budget performance reviews that allow parliament to note the trend of overall collection and spending and prepares Cabinet to reassess budget alignment with fiscal objectives and development priorities. We will have budget execution reports, including in-year and audited year-end reports designed to yield useful improvement messages on performance and value-for-money. The parliamentary budget oversight focus will be on “Budgetary governance” - the processes, laws, structures and institutions to ensure that the budgeting system effectively meets these requirements. We will give Dominica what this administration has been unable to deliver for more than 17 years - integrated budget formulation systems and monitoring procedures that are coherent and consistent across all levels of governance in the public interest. After 17 years of ignoring the necessity of good, transparent and accountable governance, it is finally admitted that “our transformation requires a new mode of governance… governance that is more consultative and able to quickly identify challenges and solutions”. This so called new mode of governance or however else described, in the context of our democratic traditions and aspirations begins with elections 6 with integrity. Free and fair elections that honestly and accurately reflect the free will of the people in the choice of a government of the people, by the people, for the people… a government whose members accept that in democracies, the people elect government, monitor government, question government, criticize government, praise government, counsel government and change government without let or hindrance. The fact of unfair elections in Dominica has been confirmed by the Commonwealth Observer Mission following the December
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