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PAC will be unable to scrutinize government spending before Elections
… slow pace of work, quorum change; a disservice to citizens
By Zena Henry
Kaieteur News – Chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Jermaine Figueira is convinced that citizens are receiving a disservice now that a stronger possibility exists for further stymieing the work of the PAC
The PAC’s quorum was recently changed from three persons to five and has specific rules as to who must be present from both the government and opposition sides of the House to make any meeting of the PAC a valid one.
PAC Chairman, Jermaine Figueira
Figueira believes that given the slow pace of the Committee’s work, and now this new requirement, the oversight body will be unable to scrutinise government’s spending before the holding of the next general elections. Figueira, in fact believes that it is the deliberate intention of the government to prevent these checks of its spending for this period in office.
“Government is currently spending millions and billions of dollars unchecked…but we are only on the 2017, 2018 and 2019 audited accounts. And that’s what they want, they don’t want us to go to the 2020 audits,” the PAC Chairman insisted. The 2017, 2018 and 2019 audited accounts would illustrate spending done by the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government.
By further slowing down the work of the Committee, it would be highly unlikely that scrutiny of government’s spending would occur before the next election, “You check it, do the calculation,” Figueira urged, “it will be elections by the time we get to the 2020 accounts.”
The PAC Chairman explained that the current situation is “very frustrating” because while the opposition would like to get on with the work of the people, there is not much that could be done to force the attendance of any member. He noted that even if a motion is brought to the Assembly to undo the PAC change, it will more than likely be voted against by the government as has happened in other matters.
The PAC chairman highlighted, however, that what the PAC members are now faced with is that all persons making up the quorum must be present to hold these important meetings. He said that what this means is that even if all opposition members and the Committee chairman is present, once the government side is not in attendance no meeting is allowed. He said even if all opposition members are present, the chairman and at least one government member, there can still be no meetings without the full complement. The same would apply if opposition members choose not to attend.
Figueira reiterated the seriousness of the recent PAC developments reminding that it was less than six months ago that the opposition members sought via motion, to increase the number of PAC meetings when it was voted down by the government’s side of the Committee. The motion was to increase the PAC meetings from once, to twice weekly so the body could better handle the backlog of work. Instead of moving toward improving the PAC’s ability to ensure transparency and accountability of public spending, Figueira said the body is now set to reduce its performance as the new motion accommodates further absenteeism.
Several opposition members had bemoaned the effects of the PAC change, while government Members of Parliament were supportive of the move. When Government Chief Whip and PAC member Gail Teixeira moved the motion to increase the PAC numbers last Wednesday, she explained that it was to ensure that both government and opposition were present to scrutinise the public accounts and that no one side would feel disadvantaged.
Some members of civil society organisations, such as Attorney Christopher Ram who has been calling out the government for lack of public information, saw the PAC change as “another blow to transparency.” He told the newspaper that the PAC’s move not only affects transparency and accountability, but the Constitutional right to citizens to be informed.
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