KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Debate on the EC$1.6 billion (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) national budget came to a premature end on Wednesday night after Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves instructed his Finance Minister, Camillo Gonsalves, his son, to end it.
The move caught the Finance Minister off guard as he told legislators he was “still getting information” for his wrap-up of the fiscal package he presented on Monday night.
But Prime Minister Gonsalves, one of the longest-serving legislators in the Caribbean, defended his decision, saying, “There is a tradition in this House that speakers on both sides of the house, we alternate, and where we have large discrepancies and members on one side of the house, naturally, you would expect more would speak in sequence from this side of the House.”
He said that because the Attorney General is a public servant and does not speak in Parliament, the government has 13 members to participate in the debate – nine elected and four senators, and the opposition has eight – six elected and two senators.
He said the Finance Minister presented the budget, and the Opposition Leader had responded.
“Then we had one person from the opposition speak, and two from the government side speak yesterday evening. I expected that someone from the opposition side would get up to speak so that we keep doing the alternation,” Gonsalves said.
The debate ended when no one rose during a 10-second period in which House Speaker Rochelle Forde said, “Further debate?” twice.
Prime Minister Gonsalves said that he had not planned to speak then but would do so and then immediately invited the Finance Minister to wrap up the budget.
The move by the PM triggered protest by opposition lawmakers Daniel Cummings and Israel Bruce, the only members in the Chamber at the time.
The Finance Minister wrapped up the debate after only two government legislators, Minister of Transport and Works Montgomery Daniel, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Agriculture Saboto Caesar, spoke.
“I didn’t expect to be in the position to be wrapping up the debate at this point,” said the Finance Minister as he began the wrap-up after several exchanges between opposition lawmakers, the prime minister, and the Speaker about the premature end to the debate.
“So, I will not have sufficient content to last for three hours,” he said, referring to the time he has to respond to the debate.
“But I note, Madam Speaker, that you called for further debate multiple times. Nobody wants to. I wonder if after you have done that. We were all supposed to sit and stare at each other silently.
“Nobody got up. The Honourable Minister of Agriculture spoke yesterday afternoon. The shadow agriculture minister, on the other side, did not respond. The Honourable Minister of Transport and Works spoke yesterday. The honorable shadow member for transport and works decided not to speak.”
The Finance Minister said three members from the opposition side had yet to address the debate, and none of them had risen to their feet.
“In fairness, there are multiple members on this side of the House who also have yet to address the House, and none of them rose to speak. But in a position where you’re asking and asking and asking for further debate and nobody gets up, they’re playing chicken with one another.
“At some point, somebody has to get up, Madam Speaker. So here we are. Here we are… Again, I would have preferred not to wrap up now. I was still getting information for my wrap-up. But here we are,” the Finance Minister said, wrapping up the debate after a nearly three-hour rebuttal.
The budget projects a current account deficit of EC$25 million and includes a record EC$570.5 million in planned capital expenditure. It also includes increased taxes on motor vehicles, driver’s licenses, and related services, as well as reform of the National Insurance Services, including raising contributions from 10 to 15 percent in increments from June 1 through 2027.
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