Govt. dodging PAC meetings to avoid scrutiny of their spending – Opposition

Jan 09, 2024 News

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Kaieteur News – The political opposition is of the opinion that the government members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) continue to be absent to avoid scrutiny of their spending accumulated so far since they took office.

On Monday the PAC was scheduled to meet to discuss some key accounts of Regions 6 and 10 and also the Ministry of Education. Additionally, they were also to confirm the Minutes of the 58^th Meeting held on Monday, November 20th, 2023. There was some delay and opposition members were observed standing outside of the room where the meeting was scheduled to commence at 10:00hrs. However, at 10:30hrs the reporter attached to this publication was informed that the meeting was once again cancelled due to the no-show of the government members.

Members of the opposition voiced their concerns on the matter and the way in which the cancellation has been affecting the work of the PAC. Former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson said that so far 27 meetings were cancelled. “We are only examining at the moment 2019 public accounts records which, means we have done less than 10% of the records. By the time we finish 2019 and get on to 2020 it will be sometime in 2025 or so forth. So we see it as a deliberate act by the PPP trying to ensure we don’t get to the years they are in office. There are several issues that arise, in the sense that whatever PAC says a recommendation is dated. So it is now 5 years since something could have been highlighted in the report, obviously you can’t do anything about it. We think that it is a very deliberate ploy, we have said this publicly…” Patterson said.

The former minister is hoping that the bill, that is yet to be debated in parliament to return the quorum to its original number is passed since, “previously all the years since the PAC has been established and it was established since in the 70’s you only needed three members present for a quorum and we are hoping it goes back to that. This change was only made last year by the PPP who insisted they must have two members present, so all they have to do is like they did today, don’t turn up. We are hoping it can be returned to what it was. Even when we were in government, and the chairman at that time was Irfaan Ali, PAC met with only three members regardless of who the two members are. The chairman and two members meeting was (held).”

Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Ganesh Mahipaul who is also on the PAC, during a telephone interview on Monday said that, “We had to cancel because of the absence of the PPP/C members which caused us to not have a quorum. About 30 meetings have been canceled for the same reason. No reason was given to us. From all indications we were slated to have a meeting because all members confirmed their attendance on Friday last.”

The MP further explained that, “Given that last year we saw several cancellations of PAC, this new year – we did not expect any change because the amount of corruption that is brought to our attention on a daily basis surrounding the spending of taxpayers’ money. It is now a confirmed act of the government to delay the work of the PAC, so that we as a committee would not get the chance to question the expenditure of 2020, 2021, 2022 and the years leading to 2025. Constitutionally elections are due in 2025 and from all indications the PPP is trying desperately to cover their corruption by non-attendance to PAC.”

The committee has been trying desperately to meet and he highlighted that they are yet to look at “the many cash grants that were distributed where there are allegations of massive corruption. We are yet to examine the expenditure associated to Public Health and Infrastructure where again there are many allegations of massive corruption. The regions are no saints in this either.” Chairman of PAC, Jermaine Figueira also voiced his dissatisfaction saying: “I am deeply disappointed about this occurrence. We experienced too much of this in 2023 and I was very optimistic that 2024 we would have seen a more positive approach to the business of the PAC but apparently this is not the same for the government side. This type of deliberate posture by the government members on the PAC continues to hamper the committee’s work and public accountability. The committee appears now to be an arm of the PPP and can only function when the PPP agrees to have it function. This does not augur well for democracy and public trust.”

Figueira said that no reasons were provided to him as to why the government members were absent. Back in December last year Mahipaul indicated that he would table a motion in the National Assembly aimed at revising the quorum for the PAC from five members, to three. Previously a quorum for the PAC was three members in keeping with Standing Order 95 (6) which states “Unless the Assembly otherwise direct, three (3) Members shall be the quorum. In ascertaining whether there is a quorum present, the Member in the Chair shall not be excluded.” However, last year, despite strong opposition from the Opposition APNU/AFC, the PPP/C government used its one seat majority to amend the standing orders in a motion moved by Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs and PPP/C Member of Parliament (MP) Gail Teixeira. With the amendments, the PAC meetings could not go forward without the government side or opposition present.

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• David Patterson, Ganesh Mahipaul, Government, opposition, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP)

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