Govt. opposition tussle at PAC over combined examination of 2019, 2020 audit reports

Jul 18, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – While the Government side of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) continues to object to the combined examination of the 2019-2020 audit reports, Chairperson of the committee Jermaine Figueira is insisting that it is necessary for the committee to clear the backlog of its work.

PAC Chair, Jermaine Figueira

The issue was raised once again last week and documented in correspondence between the PAC Chair and Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira. The government had previously objected to the combined examination of the audit report emanating from the A Partnership for National Unity +Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) term in office.

Teixeira, a member of the committee wrote to the PAC chair outlining the reasons why the reports should be examined separately. In the letter, Teixeira noted among other things, that for the period of nine months in 2019 when the APNU+AFC held office, there was no budget allocation or appropriation act approved by the National Assembly.

Therefore, she contended that monies were being withdrawn from the public coffers without the authority of the parliament or oversight as required by statutes. The years, 2019 and 2020, Teixeira said were aberrations and not in accordance with the constitution and statutory requirements regarding expenditure from the public purse.

As a result, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister noted that the reports from the two years require proper scrutiny and therefore should not be examined together. She called on the PAC to halt any preparations to hold a combined examination of the two reports together and to proceed to examine them separately and sequentially.

However, Figueira insists that the government’s position on the issue is unfounded. He wrote to the Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, stating that the reasons posited for the government’s side, as to why the merging of the years 2019 and 2020 should be halted are immaterial to the business and concerns of the Public Accounts Committee.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira

“Those reasons are merely political in nature…You are aware and know full well, that the Public Accounts Committee does not concern itself with the reasons you have provided, hence; “no confidence motion” and “the holding of elections”, which I must state, are the sole responsibility of the Guyana Elections Commission and not any government of the day, the Caribbean Court of Justice ruling and other constitutional and judicial matters,” Figueira stated in the letter. He noted that the PAC deals primarily with the Auditor General’s report findings.

“Reports which have already been submitted to the committee for the said years to be interrogated with the greatest degree of scrutiny…your identification of the years 2019 and 2020 as years that require much greater scrutiny and time, suggest insultingly, that the work done by the previous and present members, including yourself, on the years concluded, were not given such a degree of scrutiny and time that you now in a dictatorial fashion demand for these particular years to be treated differently,” Figueira went on to state.

He emphasized too that as Chairman of the PAC of the National Assembly of Guyana, “it is my hope that the committee’s work is allowed to continue unencumbered, without these political shenanigans and obstructionist machinations designed to stymie the committee’s progress becoming unnecessary roadblocks.”

Figueira continued that the constitutional mandate to ensure transparency and accountability for the people’s resources cannot be held hostage by any party’s political interest. “Further, I take this opportunity to encourage all members who have not done so, to give their fullest commitment, to ensure that the greatest degree of genuine efforts is extended in the execution of their work on the committee,” he added.

In conclusion, the PAC chair expressed hope that the committee continues its work in scrutinizing the Auditor General’s report for the combined years, cognizant of the fact that the PAC is way behind in the work and the Guyanese people expect that committee will do the work that is required “without entanglements of political gamesmanship.”

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