by Linda Straker

• EC$5,000 increase in personal allowance approved by House Committee in November 2023
• Parliament disburses the constituency allowance to MPs monthly
• MPs must present quarterly expenditure reports to ensure public funds are used for constituency activities

Dr Clarice Modeste, Opposition Member in the Lower House of Parliament for the constituency of St Mark, has disclosed that Members of the House of Representatives who began receiving the EC$10,000 constituency allowance from January 2024 must provide verifiable bills and receipts to Parliament, showing how the money was spent.

“Mr Speaker, as you and the staff know, the EC$10,000 does not go into our bank accounts and that, I think 14 of us get our EC$10,000 into an account that is the constituency account and it has to be accounted for before another disbursement can be made,” Modeste told the House while speaking on the adjournment of the 19 November sitting. “I don’t know if we on this side are treated the same as on the other side but that is our understanding. We have to account, bring our bills, have them signed and well verified before we get,” she said, reminding the House that the EC$10,000 is not for members’ personal use nor is it put in their private bank accounts.

Responding to St Patrick West Member of Parliament (MP) and Minister for Foreign Affairs Joseph Andall’s suggestion that Members of the Opposition should not accept the constituency allowance because they will not accept the constituency vehicles, she said, “If members or the Government side feel that they need to take it back, then let them put the mechanism in place.”

Parliament disburses the constituency allowance to MPs monthly, and they must present quarterly expenditure reports to Parliament to ensure that the public funds are used for constituency activities and not for personal expenditure.

This constituency allowance is separate and different from the EC$5,000 increase in personal allowance that was approved by the members of the House Committee when they met on 22 November 2023.

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