The tabling of these statements is wrong in several respects

Apr 29, 2025 Letters

Dear editor,

In (Monday’s) sitting of the National Assembly, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance tabled the Ethnic Relations Commission’s audited financial statements for the years ended 31st December 2015 to 2023. This tabling is wrong in several respects.

The ERC was established under the Constitution. Article 212 E requires it to submit to the Speaker of the National Assembly an annual report on the Commission’s activities for the preceding year. That report must then be laid before the National Assembly as soon as practical after the end of the year. The ERC must also prepare and publish an executive summary of its annual report and every special report in widely accessible media within forty-five days of submitting such a special report to the National Assembly.

The spectacle the nation is about to witness is ten years late, and incomplete. Audited financial statements are part of, not a substitute for, the required report or the executive summary. It is incredible, unacceptable, and disgraceful that successive Speakers of the National Assembly -Raphael Trotman and Manzoor Nadir – have been so delinquent in reminding Shaikh Moeenul Hack, Chairman, and Gomin Comacho, CEO, of their egregious violation of the Constitution and the principle of good governance.

What is troubling is that neither the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee nor the Auditor General has flagged this shocking violation. It raises questions about the management and usefulness of Parliament, which was allocated over $2 Bn, including statutory expenditures, in 2025, and of the Clerk of the National Assembly, whose performance seems to match that of the National Assembly.

The information on the National Assembly website is so outdated that it is useless, violating the Access to Information Act. No one can hold anyone else accountable when every relevant person and agency is derelict in their duties. And of course, fitness, competence and professionalism have long been cast aside as a requirement for public service.

But this in no way exonerates the Chairman, CEO, and members of the ERC from their gross negligence, dereliction of duty, and violation of oath. It is unthinkable that Mr. Shaikh Hack does not know the relevant provisions of the Constitution under which he is appointed. He is paid over $400,000 monthly plus attractive benefits as the part-time chairman of a barely functioning Commission. As a respected religious leader who has violated the sacred oath to observe the Constitution of Guyana, he should do the decent thing and resign.

When these audited financial statements are laid before the National Assembly, the Speaker should demand an undertaking from the Minister that the constitutionally required reports will be tabled within 21 days, along with a credible explanation for the non-compliance.

Editor, I want to point out that the ERC is not alone in not submitting reports. This is true of other bodies like the Demerara Harbour Bridge and the Central Housing and Planning Authority, which perform essential functions and handle billions of public funds but fail to prepare or publish annual reports.

I have called before: any government agency that fails to meet its basic reporting obligations under the Constitution and the law should not receive public funding until it demonstrates proper accountability.

Sincerely

Christopher Ram

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