CHAPTER V
FINANCE
77.CONSOLIDATED FUND
78.Withdrawals From Consolidated Fund Or Other Public Funds
79. Authorisation Of Expenditure From Consolidated Fund By Appropriation Law
80. Authorisation Of Expenditure In Advance Of Appropriation
81. Contingencies Fund
82. Remuneration Of Certain Officers
83. PUBLIC DEBT
84. Audit Of Public Accounts, etc
77. CONSOLIDATED FUND
All revenues or other moneys raised or received by Saint Lucia (not being revenues or other moneys that are payable, by or under any law for the time being in force in Saint Lucia, into some other fund established for a specific purpose) shall be paid into and form a Consolidated Fund.
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78. WITHDRAWALS FROM CONSOLIDATED FUND OR OTHER PUBLIC FUNDS
(1) No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund except—
(a) to meet expenditure that is charged upon the Fund by this Constitution or by any law enacted by Parliament; or
(b) where the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an appropriation law or by a law made in pursuance of section 80.
(2) Where any moneys are charged by this Constitution or any law enacted by Parliament upon the Consolidated Fund or any other public fund, they shall be paid out of that fund by the Government to the person or authority to whom payment is due.
(3) No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund other than the Consolidated Fund unless the issue of those moneys has been authorised by or under any law.
(4) There shall be such provision as may be made by Parliament prescribing the manner in which withdrawals may be made from the Consolidated Fund or any other public fund.
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79. AUTHORISATION OF EXPENDITURE FROM CONSOLIDATED FUND BY APPROPRIATION LAW
(1) The Minister responsible for finance shall cause to be prepared and laid before the House before, or not later than 30 days after, the commencement of each financial year estimates of the revenues and expenditure of Saint Lucia for that financial year.
(2) When the estimates of expenditure (other than expenditure charged upon the Consolidated Fund by this Constitution or by any law enacted by Parliament) have been approved by the House, a bill, known as an appropriation bill, shall be introduced in the House, providing for the issue from the Consolidated Fund of the sums necessary to meet that expenditure and the appropriation of those sums, under separate votes for the several services required, to the purposes specified therein.
(3) A supplementary estimate showing the sums required or spent shall be laid before the House if in respect of any financial year it is found—
(a) that the amount appropriated by the appropriation law to any purpose is insufficient or that a need has arisen for expenditure for a purpose to which no amount has been appropriated by that law; or
(b) that any moneys have been expended for any purpose in excess of the amount appropriated to that purpose by the appropriation law or for a purpose to which no amount has been appropriated by that law.
When the supplementary estimate has been approved by the House, a supplementary appropriation bill shall be introduced in the House providing for the issue of such sums from the Consolidated Fund and appropriating them to the purposes specified therein.
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80. AUTHORISATION OF EXPENDITURE IN ADVANCE OF APPROPRIATION
There shall be such provision as may be made by Parliament under which, if the appropriation law in respect of any financial year has not come into operation by the beginning of that financial year, the Minister responsible for finance may authorise the withdrawal of moneys from the Consolidated Fund for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on the services of the Government until the expiration of 4 months from the beginning of that financial year or the coming into operation of the law, whichever is the earlier.
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81. CONTINGENCIES FUND
(1) There shall be such provision as may be made by Parliament for the establishment of a Contingencies Fund and for authorising the Minister responsible for finance, if satisfied that there has arisen an urgent and unforeseen need for expenditure for which no other provision exists, to make advances from that Fund to meet that need.
(2) Where any advance is made from the Contingencies Fund, a supplementary estimate shall as soon as possible be laid before the House and when the supplementary estimate has been approved by the House, a supplementary appropriation bill shall be introduced as soon as possible in the House for the purpose of replacing the amount so advanced.
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82. REMUNERATION OF CERTAIN OFFICERS
(1) There shall be paid to the holders of the offices to which this section applies such salaries and such allowances as may be prescribed by or under a law enacted by Parliament.
(2) The salaries and allowances prescribed in pursuance of this section in respect of the holders of the offices to which this section applies shall be a charge on the Consolidated Fund.
(3) The salary prescribed in pursuance of this section in respect of the holder of any office to which this section applies and his or her other terms of service (other than allowances that are not taken into account in computing, under any law in that behalf, any pension payable in respect of his or her service in that office) shall not be altered to his or her disadvantage after his or her appointment.
(4) When a person’s salary or other terms of service depend upon his or her option, the salary or terms for which he or she opts shall, for the purposes of subsection (3), be deemed to be more advantageous to him or her than any others for which he or she might have opted.
(5) This section applies to the offices of the Governor General, member of the Public Service Commission, member of the Teaching Service Commission, member of the Public Service Board of Appeal, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Director of Audit, the Parliamentary Commissioner, the Deputy Parliamentary Commissioner and the Chief Elections Officer.
(6) Nothing in this section shall be construed as prejudicing the provisions of section 97 (which protects pensions rights in respect of service as a public officer).
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83. PUBLIC DEBT
(1) All debt charges for which Saint Lucia is liable shall be a charge on the Consolidated Fund.
(2) For the purposes of this section debt charges include interest, sinking fund charges, the repayment or amortization of debt and all expenditure in connection with the raising of loans on the security of the Consolidated Fund and the service and redemption of the debt created thereby.
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84. AUDIT OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS, ETC
(1) There shall be a Director of Audit whose office shall be a public office.
(2) The Director of Audit shall—
(a) satisfy himself or herself that all moneys that have been appropriated by Parliament and disbursed have been applied to the purposes to which they were so appropriated and that the expenditure conforms to the authority that governs it; and
(b) at least once in every year audit and report on the public accounts of Saint Lucia, the accounts of all officers and authorities of the Government, the accounts of all courts of law in Saint Lucia (including any accounts of the Supreme Court maintained in Saint Lucia), the accounts of every Commission established by this Constitution and the accounts of the Parliamentary Commissioner, the Clerk of the Senate and the Clerk of the House.
(3) The Director of Audit and any officer authorised by him or her shall have access to all books, records, returns, reports and other documents which in his or her opinion relate to any of the accounts referred to in subsection (2).
(4) The Director of Audit shall submit every report made by him or her in pursuance of subsection (2) to the Minister responsible for finance who shall, not later than 7 days after the House first meets after he or she has received the report, lay it before the House.
(5) If the Minister fails to lay a report before the House in accordance with the provisions of subsection (4) the Director of Audit shall transmit copies of that report to the Speaker who shall, as soon as practicable, present them to the House.
(6) The Director of Audit shall exercise such other functions in relation to the accounts of the Government or the accounts of other authorities or bodies established by law for public purposes as may be prescribed by or under any law enacted by Parliament.
(7) In the exercise of his or her functions under subsections (2), (3), (4) and (5), the Director of Audit shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.
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