…Greenidge says no easy passage without talksOpposition coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has called on the government to address mounting cases of corruption and other vexing issues as it plans for the 2013 budget.However, the coalition yesterday lamented the fact that the government has failed to back up its promise to meet with the opposition to craft the budget and to ensure that funds go to priority projects.As a result, APNU has sounded the warning that there would be no easy passage of the budget if the opposition is not satisfied with what is presented.After a meeting on November 21 last year, APNU agreed to make a written submission to the Ministry of Finance regarding what it would like to see addressed.“The submissions were made as promised and APNU called on the Government to take account of the spiraling cost of living; crime; corruption; lawlessness and discrimination and the simmering spirit of rebellion that form the background against which the Budget is to be crafted,” APNU’s Carl Greenidge said yesterday.However, since those submissions were made APNU has heard nothing from the Finance Ministry,Wholesale Jerseys, and so Greenidge concluded that “there has been no effort,Cheap Jerseys From China, on the part of the Government, to honour their pledge to have dialogue.”Greenidge warned that this lack of consultation will have serious implications for the consideration of the Budget proposals and its passage through the National Assembly.It was on November 9, last,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, that the Minister of Finance invited representatives of the majority in the National Assembly to a meeting to discuss the 2013 Budget.At that November 21 meeting, Greendige said there were open and frank discussions. He said that the government team comprised Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon and Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali.Subsequent to the meeting,Authentic Jerseys Sale, APNU said it submitted a 13-page document early this year but there has been no further communication from the Minister.Greenidge said that there should have been a meeting every fortnight in keeping with the agreement made at the November 21 meeting.Among the issues APNU want addressed in the budget, are the completion of the reform of the tax system, and the status of the body set up to look at the burden of taxation including the reduction of VAT. Greenidge charged that the body has not been having meetings,Jerseys From China, or at least there has been no report since.The coalition also proposed measures to return the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) to financial viability; minimum wage; Old Age Pension; job creation; upgrading the physical environment and infrastructure of our communities; the radical revamping of the system for the selection and sequencing of capital projects and for the efficient management and monitoring of the implementation of those projects; the proper management of national resources, including an independent institutional review of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, and related institutions; establishing a Public Procurement Commission; establishing and enforcing acceptable standards of financial administration; depoliticisation and reform of the management and oversight of public corporations and their access to resources; the unjustifiable politicised treatment of the regions and their priorities; and the rising internal debt.APNU reiterated that the National Assembly is the authority to dictate how public funds are used.As such,Jerseys From China, the coalition warned that the government must know that if it locks out the opposition from the budget planning, it cannot expect that the budget that will be presented is the same budget that would be passed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly.