PM Browne Defends Unbudgeted Spending, Says Supplementary Filings Delayed but Not Illegal
Prime Minister Gaston Browne says delayed supplementary appropriations will be brought to Parliament on December 4, describing the backlog as an administrative lapse but insisting the expenditures involved were not unlawful.
Browne said the government routinely buys vehicles, heavy equipment, garbage trucks, ambulances and other assets not listed in the approved annual budget.
He explained that these purchases are covered through supplementary appropriations signed by the finance minister, even if the paperwork is filed late.
He stressed that the practice is longstanding and legal, saying the lack of timely filings “doesn’t mean that they’re illegal” and that “nobody did something illegal and bought extra vehicles.”
According to Browne, the director of audit typically records such delays as “unauthorized payments” in the audited financial statements, but they become regularized once the appropriations are submitted.
Browne said the documents to clear the backlog—potentially three to four years—have already been prepared for submission.
He pointed to the previous United Progressive Party administration, saying it “did not file a single supplementary appropriation” in its 10¼ years in office, leaving his administration to correct “hundreds of millions of dollars” in outstanding filings after taking government in 2014.
He rejected suggestions raised in Parliament that the government improperly exceeded budgeted amounts for vehicle purchases, calling the criticism a conflation of issues and saying supplementary spending has occurred “from time immemorial.”
