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Public Moneys Amendment Act 1996

SAMOA

PUBLIC MONEYS AMENDMENT ACT 1996

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Arrangement of Provisions

Title
1.Short title and commencement
2.Interpretation
3.Amendment of Part V

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1996, No.6

AN ACT to amend the Public Moneys Act 1964 by authorising the appropriation of Public Funds and financial reports thereon to be made on the basis of outputs.

[13 March 1996]

BE IT ENACTED by the Legislative Assembly of Western Samoa assembled in Parliament as follows:-

1. Short title and commencement-(1) This Act may be cited as the Public Moneys Amendment Act 1996 which shall be read together with and deemed part of the Public Moneys Act 1964 (hereinafter referred to as the " principal Act ").

(2) This Act shall come into force on the 1st of July 1996:

Provided that any action or thing done under or with this Act prior to the 1st day of July 1996 and any act or thing done under the amended or unamended provisions of the Public Moneys Act 1964, or any act or thing done in respect of the processing, tabling and introduction of the 1996/1997 Financial year Budget shall be deemed to have been done in accordance with legal requirements at all times and shall not be questioned for want of authority or that the time of invocation of authority has not arisen.

2. Interpretation -Section 2 of the principal Act is amended by inserting the following terms and their definitions in their correct alphabetical place:

"Department" means a department or Ministry of the Public Service of Western Samoa and for purposes of this Act includes any office of the Legislative Assembly of Western Samoa.

"Outputs" mean the goods and services that are produced by a department, or other person or body.

"Outputs to be provided by third parties" mean outputs provided to the Government by a person or body that is not a department and the management of whose activities is not under the control of a department but are funded by Government:

"Responsible Minister" means –

(a) In relation to a department, the Minister for the time being appointed to be the Minister for that Department and therefore responsible for the performance (financial or otherwise) of the department:

(b) In relation to an Office of the Legislative Assembly, the Speaker

"Transactions on behalf of the State" means a payment or receipt on behalf of the State in respect of –

(a) any outputs supplied by another person or body:

(b) any equity investment in another organisation:

(c) any category of benefits or other unrequited payments:

"Treasury Instructions" means Treasury Instructions issued pursuant to section 74 of this Act.

3. Amendment of Part V -Part V of the principal Act is amended by omitting all the provisions of Part V and substituting the following:

"21. Appropriation required-(1) No expenditure of public money shall be made except pursuant to an appropriation by an Act of the Legislative Assembly.

(2) A separate appropriation shall be made for:

(a) Each of the outputs and sub-outputs to be delivered by a department; and

(b) Any outputs to be delivered by third parties; and

(c) Any transactions on behalf of the state.

(3) Any money appropriated under subsection 2 of this section may be expended only in relation to that appropriation and for no other purpose.

(4) The authority to expend money pursuant to an Appropriation Act shall lapse at the end of the financial year to which that Act relates.

(5) Notwithstanding this or any other Act, a department may incur expenses and charge for the payment of services that the expenses have been incurred in respect of to the recipient of those services irrespective of whether such recipient is another Government Department, if there is a prior agreement to charge the costs incurred to an output of the other department or that the costs will be recovered from another person or body.

22. Transfer of moneys between outputs to be delivered by a department-(1) Notwithstanding section 21 of this Act, the Minister responsible for the Vote concerned may with the concurrence of the Minister direct that an amount appropriated in a Vote for a specified output to be delivered by a department in that Vote be transferred to another output to be delivered by that department in that Vote where –

(a) The amount transferred does not increase an appropriation for a financial year for an output by more than 20 percent; and

(b) No other transfer to that output has occurred during that financial year; and

(c) The total amount appropriated for that financial year for all outputs to be delivered by the department in the vote is unaltered.

(2) Notwithstanding section 21 of this Act, the Responsible Minister may direct that an amount appropriated in a Vote for a specified sub-output to be delivered by the department within that Vote for which he is responsible be transferred to another sub-output to be delivered by that department within that Vote, provided that the sub-outputs concerned are sub-outputs of the same output and where –

(a) The amount transferred does not increase an appropriation for a financial year for a sub-output by more than 20 percent; and

(b) No other transfer to that sub-output has occurred during that financial year; and

(c) The total amount appropriated for that financial year for all sub-outputs and outputs to be delivered by the department in the vote is unaltered.

(3) Without limiting the validity of the transfers made under subsections (1) and (2) of this section, a clause recording any transfers made under those subsections in that financial year shall be made in an Appropriation Bill for the succeeding financial year.

23. Expenditure in anticipation of appropriation All expenditure in any financial year authorised under Article 95 of the Constitution –

(a) Shall as far as possible accord with the estimates for that year; and

(b) Shall be set off against the amount provided for the service on which it has been spent in an Appropriation Act for that financial year when that Act comes into force.

24. Accounting for payments appropriated other than by an Appropriation Act - Each expenditure of public money made in respect of any appropriation other than pursuant to an Appropriation Act shall be managed and accounted for in the same manner as public money is expended pursuant to an Appropriation Act.

25. Estimates-(1) The Estimates shall be prepared for each Appropriation Act and shall set out the amounts to be charged to each Vote.

(2) The Estimates shall include the following information in respect of each Vote:

(a) The Minister responsible for the Vote:

(b) The department administering the Vote:

(c) A brief description of each output and sub-output to be delivered by the department together with an estimate of the expenditures to be made and any receipts from charges made for the delivering of that output:

(d) A brief description of any output to be delivered by third parties together with an estimate of the expenditures to be made:

(e) A brief description of any transaction on behalf of the state together with an estimate of the expenditure to be made:

(f) Comparative revised estimates figures for each of the items in paragraphs (c) to

(e) of this subsection for the previous appropriation period:

(g) Any other relevant information as directed by the Minister.

(3) The Estimates shall state the legislative authority for any payment to be made in respect of any appropriation other than pursuant to an Appropriation Act.

26. Emergency expenditure of public moneys-(1) Where any state of national emergency or state of civil defense emergency is declared under Article 105 of the Constitution, the Minister may approve such expenditure of public moneys to meet such emergency, whether or not there is an appropriation by the Legislative Assembly available for the purpose, and thereupon, notwithstanding section 21 of this Act, such moneys may be expended accordingly.

(2) When any public money is expended pursuant to any such emergency declared under subsection (1) of this section a notice to that effect shall be published in the Gazette and Savali as soon as practicable.

(3) Without affecting the validity of any expenditure of public moneys under this section, a statement of expenditure incurred under this section in any financial year that has not been appropriated shall be included in –

(a) The annual Statement of Accounts; and

(b) An Appropriation Bill for sanction by Parliament.

27. Unauthorised expenditure-(1) Where the Minister considers that the expenditure of public moneys in the last three months of any financial year in excess of, or without appropriation by the Legislative Assembly should be approved, the Minister may, in that financial year, notwithstanding that all or part of that money may have been expended, approve, in respect of any Vote, -

Expenditure of public moneys up to an amount not exceeding 1 percent of the total amount appropriated for all Appropriation Acts for that financial year for:

(i) outputs to be delivered by departments; and

(ii) outputs to be delivered by third parties; and

(iii) transactions on behalf of the state, -and, notwithstanding section 21 of this Act, the making of the expenditure shall be approved accordingly.

(2) Without affecting the validity of any expenditure approved under subsection (1) of this section, a statement relating to such expenditure shall be included in:

(a) The annual Statement of Accounts for that financial year together with an explanation of the reasons for such expenditure for that financial year; and

(b) An Appropriation Bill for the next financial year, for action by the Legislative Assembly.

(3) Where in any financial year any public money has been expended in excess of, or without, appropriation by the Legislative Assembly, the Minister shall, on the introduction of the Appropriation Bill in which is included the statement required by subsection (2) of this section in relation to the expenditures, lay before the Legislative Assembly a report setting out in relation to each instance of expenditure in excess of, or without, appropriation by the Legislative Assembly, the explanation of the Responsible Minister.

28. Power to make contracts in excess of appropriation-(1) It shall be lawful for the Head of State, acting on the advice of the Minister, to enter into any contracts, or to incur any liabilities, in the name and on behalf of the Government, in anticipation or in excess of any appropriation, for carrying on any works and services for which money is appropriated by the Legislative Assembly.

(2) A copy of any such contract entered into by the Head of State under the provisions of this section shall be laid before the Legislative Assembly within 28 days after the date of execution of the contract if the Assembly is then in session and if not shall be laid before the Assembly within 28 days after the date of the commencement of the next ensuing session.