by Linda Straker
- EC$10,000 monthly Special Contingent Constituency Allowance is for constituency expenditure
- EC$30,000 placed in accounts of MPs covers first quarter of 2024
- Constituency Allowance use guidelines was on House Committee meeting agenda in first quarter of 2024
Members of Parliament in the Lower House or House of Representatives are to begin receiving an EC$10,000 monthly “Special Contingent Constituency Allowance” for constituency expenditure as approved in the 2024 budget statement. However, the guidelines for use of the funds are yet to be made public.
“I was informed that the constituency funds are finally sorted out. The sum of EC$30,000 is being placed in the accounts of the MPs for the various constituencies, because the sum is EC$10,000 per month and we are now coming to the end of March, so that EC$30,000 covers the first quarter of 2024,” House Speaker Leo Cato announced to members during the 26 March sitting of the House.
Cato did not publicly shared or explained what the funds can or cannot be used for, but in the November 2023 meeting of the House Committee it was agreed that the guidelines should be developed to specify the use of the funds.
The minutes of the meeting which were laid in the House as a public document in December 2023, said the Members of the Committee deliberated and expressed the following concerns and made recommendations for coming up with the criteria for managing Constituency operations:
- That consideration be given to outsourcing management of operations
- Subventions for all offices to manage expenses and provide Reports on a quarterly basis to the Clerk of Parliament be a consideration as discussed
- That tailoring of the programme must be considered so that there is equal distribution of the benefits from the safety net programmes for all
- That a monthly subvention be provided to Constituency Offices
- That a broad guideline be developed to specify the use of funds. Discussions were held on the need for a ceiling on the amount of funds that could be allocated to persons or entities
It is known that the House Committee, which comprises Speaker Cato and MPs Joseph Andall, Kerryne James, Emmalin Pierre and Dr Clarice Modeste, met once during the first quarter of 2024, and one of the topics on the agenda was constituency allowance use guidelines.
In October 2022, which was approximately 3 months after being elected, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell who is also the Member of Parliament for St David, told Parliament that he wants elected Members of Parliament to the Lower House to start receiving financial allocations from the state so that they will be able to serve their constituents properly and effectively.
“This system that we have where Members of Parliament… are given no resources whatsoever to address the concerns of their constituents is not going to lead to effective representation in Grenada,” he said while speaking on the adjournment at the 29 September 2022 sitting of the Lower House.
“The idea that you run up and down your constituency asking people to vote for you, they vote for you, you become an MP and then you have no resources to do anything cannot be permitted to continue,” he said, calling on members on both sides of the House to work together to change that system.
Typical as all I can say typical government MPs just typical
Looking to see evidence of the spending of that $30,000 in the St. John’s constituency before the next $10,000 end of April. The MP should have things lined up to do that would benefit the their communities.