Therefore, Hon. Chair, it is my submission that anything below $163 million that Parliament submitted to Treasury its requirements for it to perform its duties cannot be reduced or deducted at any cost. When we look at the figure, it might appear that it is too huge but there are certain factors that have not been taken into consideration. For starters, if the Hon. Minister is going to compare with this year’s Budget, he has not taken into consideration the inflationary factor.
Basically, $163 million in 2019 is not equivalent to $163 million in 2018 because it has lost its value through inflation. $163 million is below $160 million in real terms. I think the Hon. Minister understands that. In real terms, what $163 million will be in 2019 is not the same with $163 million yesterday because of inflation and distortion in terms of the rates, whatever currency the Minister might suggest to use.
On top of that, the $80 or so million that Parliament was allocated in 2018 had no provision for purchase of motor vehicles for Hon. Members because Parliament’s life was still in subsistence. 2019 is special because this is a new Parliament and there are new acquisitions that are supposed to be made by Parliament. If the Hon. Minister is denying Parliament to get the amount that they require, he is simply saying do not supervise me. He is simply saying do not oversee what he is doing and Parliament cannot allow that to happen.
It is my submission Hon. Chair that the Hon. Minister should allocate Parliament what it requested. If it does not do that, I am sure that he can have the Budget approved elsewhere and not in this House because Parliament has got to play its supervisory role. Hon. Chair, those are the indications that I wanted the Hon. Minister to take into consideration. Parliament should be allowed to get the $163 million that it claimed. I thank you – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
THE DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON: Hon. Members, can we have less noise? Order, order Hon. Members.
HON. GONESE: Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. I know that the Hon. Minister is engaging the Chief Whips, can I just pause.
I trust that I now have the Hon. Minister’s undivided attention. The first point I want to make is that in the past, this august institution has allowed itself to be treated as a poor and distant cousin in terms of the three arms of the State and I believe that the time has now come for this institution to be accorded its rightful place as one of the three arms of the State. What is critical to understand for the Hon. Minister is that in the past, this institution has actually failed to discharge its functions because of inadequate funding.
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