Making his contribution to the Banking Amendment bill, leader of the Opposition Godwin Friday stated that his office gets a transfer quarterly from the government; however, they cannot access that transfer unless a source of funds form is presented saying his office received the money from the government.
Friday was making an illustrative point about the problems that exist within the banking system.
Responding to crosstalk from the government side Friday, he stated that he doesn’t deposit the money.
“You (the government) deposit the money; it comes from you. So, if they’re questioning it, they’re questioning the government. And I spoke with a senior member of the bank about it, and in a sense, I was just brushed off to the side,” Friday said.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, in responding to the opposition leader’s statement, said:
“Parliament has voted money for the office of the leader of the opposition. It is as if it is a department of the government. I don’t see how a bank can reasonably, under any regulation, ask for a source of funds. All that is clearly required is for the Director General of Finance and Planning to write to the bank and say, this is a legitimate transfer. Don’t subject anybody to this excessive regulation. This is making things absurd.”
“The clerk of the house used to pay the bills. And then there were 1 or 2 occasions where bills were not paid for the preceding year, and then they required special warrants. So, I said, we can’t subject the office of the leader of the opposition to special warrants. Why don’t we give them money on a quarterly basis and let them spend it, as Parliament has outlined? They could be audited like everybody else if the Director of Audit chooses to audit the office of the clerk because it comes there under the budget. I mean, this is really a lot of rigmarole, really, I mean, to put it very bluntly, I mean, it’s an absurdity”.
Friday stated that they have to take a photocopy of the estimates section showing the funds were there, voted for the opposition leader, and submit that to the bank four times a year.
