C.W.U. Payment Should Have Come from GOB’s Contingency Fund

While government can in fact make such compensatory payments, Smith argues that constitutionally it has to be done through a contingencies fund and not from the consolidated revenue funds from which the payment was made.

Godfrey Smith

Godfrey Smith, Attorney-at-law

“It must come, according to the constitution, not from the consolidated revenue fund but from another fund called a contingencies fund and it appears that the payment did not come from that.  Furthermore, even if it was allowed to come from the consolidated revenue fund, it must meet certain requirements under Section 5 of the Finance and Audit Reform Act which we argued it didn’t and raised a serious question.  But to try to simplify it because I think it’s slightly complex; yes, the government can in a legitimate situation of urgent and unforeseen expense, must be genuinely urgent and definitely unforeseen, you can by special warrant make an expenditure but it must come from a contingencies fund set up for that purpose into which monies have been voted for these unforeseen expenses.  And then when you spend it out, you have to go back and take the appropriate document appropriations to parliament to replenish it.  The government did set up this contingencies fund last year when it amended the Finance and Audit Reform Act and introduced the contingencies fund, but it appears that no monies have been put into it.  So put simply, you cannot, the constitution does not allow you, even if it is urgent and unforeseen, even if it‘s legitimately urgent and unforeseen, you cannot draw it from the consolidated revenue fund, it has to come from a special fund.”