Is the Minister of Public Service and Constitutional Reform holding back on funds from the People's Constitutional Commission?
The constitutional overhaul is a flagship project of the Briceno administration - and 1.5 million dollars has been earmarked for the effort. But, the Commission has been running on fumes - reportedly because promised funds can't seem to make it into the PCC's bank account.
We asked the Minister about it today:
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of the Public Service
"I did see some commentary that perhaps that the budget has been fully exhausted. I can categorically say that that's not true. I checked with the finance officer in my ministry to make sure that we still had funds available."
"And of the $1.5 million that was approved by the National Assembly, I believe that so far they have dispersed $1 million. So there's still about one -third of the budget that was approved to do the work of the People's Constitution Commission."
Jules Vasquez
"But is it a fact that in fact the PCC office should be able to administer these funds on its own, but in fact your ministry, it is alleged, is sitting on the money like a Kaiser?"
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of the Public Service
"It has to be a ministry that asks for the de-reservation of the funds. In this particular case, it's the ministry of the public service. And whenever a request comes in, the monies are requested from the ministry of finance. I can't say how fast the ministry of finance approves the de-reservation of the funds. But like I said, so far two-thirds of the budget has been spent or has been de-reserved. I'm not sure if the second one-third has already been exhausted, but certainly there's still one -third of the budget still available."
Jules Vasquez
"We've heard that the commissioners have not received, for example, their stipend for fuel. We know they're working for free, but still they have to come from all parts of the country."
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of the Public Service
"I don't know the day-to-day realities of who has been paid. we don't, you know, the ministry of public service does not take that type of, to go into detail in terms of the spending, just to make sure that when a request is made that it's de-reserved. So I wouldn't be able to comment on whether they've been paid or not, but we do support whenever there's a request coming in for de-reservation of funds."
Jules Vasquez
"I keep hearing the contrary."
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of the Public Service
"I can only explain from our end and our end is that when the request comes in, the money is requested from the ministry of finance and then the payments are made."
