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Opposition Leader’s benefits to be statutory soon
The Benefits of a sitting Parliamentary Opposition Leader will soon become standardized and outlined in law as the Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh recently tabled the Leader of the Opposition (Benefits and Other Facilities) Act 2009.
Current leader of the Parliamentary Opposition Robert Corbin
The Bill will be up for debate this Thursday and should be approved.
The piece of proposed legislation, according to Dr Singh, was one of many in what the government was now seeking to do namely have a statute base approach to such matters rather than leaving to the latitude and discretion of the Administration.
Under the proposed legislation the Leader of the Opposition shall be entitled at Government expense to:- a rent-free furnished office accommodation; medical attention including medical treatment or reimbursement of medical expenses incurred by him for himself and the dependant members of his family; full-time security service at his official place of residence; the services of a secretary or an executive secretary, a chauffeur, a gardener and a domestic servant and vacation allowance as is applicable to a Minister.
Following the passage in the National Assembly the Bill will, without prejudice to the generality of the provisions, prescribe the sums to which the Leader of the Opposition is entitled to receive and the date from which any sum is to be paid and every regulation made under the Act shall be laid as soon as possible after it is made before the House.
The Bill comes on the heels of a heated debate in the House as it relates to a similar Bill on Friday last where benefits for former Presidents was formalised.
The Guyana Action Party (GAP) was the only party that supported the Bill as is with limited reservations whilst there was only principled support from the two main opposition parties namely the Alliance for Change (AFC) and the Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR)
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