‘Change to PAC quorum, another blow to transparency’

Apr 18, 2022 News

… Ram says failure by MPs to attend meeting should not stop scrutiny of public spending

By Zena Henry

Kaieteur News – Attorney-at-Law Christopher Ram is not only viewing the recent change to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) quorum as a disregard for transparency, he believes that this recent act to increase the minimum number of persons required for the oversight meetings is another blow to the Constitutional rights of citizens to be informed.

Attorney-at-Law Christopher Ram

Ram has been among the numerous professional and civil society voices critical of government’s posture regarding the availability of information. Given the PAC change, he told the Kaieteur News that the motion is another move unsupportive of the tenets of democracy. He told the newspaper that while transparency is affected by the change to the PAC structure, it is merely incidental given the real issue, which speaks to the violation of citizen’s constitutional rights.
Ram told the newspaper that it is this constitutional right that allows citizens access to information. Information, the lawyer who is also a chartered accountant continued, is critical to the processes of decision making and to the ones making the decisions. He insisted therefore that, “the persons asking the questions should have the same kind of information as the ones making the decisions.” Ram maintained that discussions in Guyana cannot remain one-sided as seems to be the ongoing case. He said that citizens cannot give informed judgments, criticisms and advice if they are not in possession of the information that would allow them to play a supporting role in governance.

TIGI President Fredrick Collins

Ram argued that information and discussions are central to democracy. “To deny information is to deny democracy,” he argued. “This is not a theoretical view but a factual one that has implications for everyone. Whether you are supportive of the government or not, this has to be in the country’s best interest.” “So, when it comes to the matter of constitutional rights, that is not something that can be defended,” Ram insisted.
Frederick Collins, President of Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI) in his comment on the PAC matter, told the Kaieteur News yesterday that he too is concerned about the delay and transparency that may arise due to the change. He questioned whether the work of the Guyanese people would indeed be stalled by its leaders because of their failure to have a quorum.
The local transparency leader told the newspaper that given certain conditions that apply to the holding of meetings, it would not seem too serious on the surface that the government would want to change the quorum to ensure its presence when checks and balances to its spending are made. “But given what we know… government not making itself available this [quorum change] lends to the recipe for perpetual postponement.”
Collins noted that while a quorum simply constitutes the minimum number of persons required for the validity of a meeting, there are conditions that organisations use where meetings would go ahead if one party is absent for the second time of a meeting. “If some condition to this effect is not in place, then I wholly support the concerns of the opposition,” the TIGI leader said.
Last Wednesday a majority vote by government Members of Parliament (MPs), saw the motion passed in the National Assembly to change the number of persons required for a valid PAC meeting from three to five. Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs Gail Teixeira who moved the Motion, said that government could not allow opposition MPs to continue scrutinizing government spending without the administration’s representatives, which has been happening for the last few months. As a matter of building trust, Teixeira had said that the quorum change was merely to protect both opposition and government by ensuring their presence. She had said that in the PAC, both government and opposition expenditure are reviewed. The motion is an attempt for there to be adequate participation from both sides and so that no side could have a runaway train, she posited.
Opposition MPs are adamant however that the PAC quorum change is really a new avenue to limit scrutiny of government spending since the mere absence of their officials would now prevent the holding of the meetings. Among other things, the PAC meets on Mondays to examine the audited accounts presented in the Auditor General’s Report.

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