The PAC

Jun 27, 2026 Editorial, News

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Editorial…

(Kaieteur News) – The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has become a national joke, and the laughter is at the expense of taxpayers.

After waiting nine long months for the committee to be constituted, Guyanese are now being told it cannot meet because Government members are “unavailable.” Unavailable for what? Certainly not unavailable to collect salaries and benefits paid by the very citizens they are refusing to serve.

The PAC is Parliament’s principal watchdog over public spending. It is the body responsible for examining whether billions of taxpayers’ dollars have been spent lawfully, properly and efficiently. It is one of the few parliamentary mechanisms that gives citizens an opportunity to see how governments account for the people’s money. Yet the very Government that endlessly boasts about transparency and accountability cannot find enough members to attend meetings and allow the committee to function.

This is not an accident. It is not bad luck. It is the predictable outcome of deliberate political engineering.

In a statement on Thursday PAC member, MP, Ganesh Mahipaul outlined how every reasonable effort was made to convene the committee. Notices were issued well within the Standing Orders. Parliament’s Office initially confirmed that a quorum existed. Then, on the very day of the meeting, Government members withdrew, collapsing the quorum. He said the chairman attempted to accommodate them by offering meetings on every remaining weekday. Every proposed date was rejected.

The inevitable result is paralysis.

Government cannot now pretend that circumstances are beyond its control. It has shown scant regard for the work of one of Parliament’s most important oversight bodies and, in doing so, is making a mockery of the Guyanese people.

Even more disturbing is that this paralysis was years in the making. In 2021, the PPP/C amended the quorum rules governing the PAC. At the time, critics warned that requiring Government participation for meetings to proceed would effectively hand the Executive a veto over parliamentary scrutiny. Those warnings were dismissed. Today they have been fully vindicated.

The Government has discovered that the easiest way to avoid uncomfortable questions is simply not to show up.

Accountability delayed is accountability denied.

Every cancelled meeting pushes the examination of Government spending further into the future. The backlog already stretches back to 2019. Billions of dollars have flowed through the Treasury during Guyana’s oil boom, yet the committee responsible for examining that expenditure remains crippled. At the current pace, much of the spending that has occurred under this administration may never receive meaningful parliamentary scrutiny before the next general elections.

That is not merely an administrative inconvenience. It is a direct assault on democratic accountability.

This situation becomes even more troubling when viewed against the Government’s earlier refusal to increase PAC meetings from one day each week to two. The justification then was that members had other responsibilities. The practical consequence, however, was obvious: slow the committee’s work, preserve the backlog and ensure that scrutiny of current Government spending remained perpetually out of reach.

Then the second layer of protection, the altered quorum requirement, which allows Government members simply to stay away whenever scrutiny becomes inconvenient.

One does not have to accept every allegation of corruption to recognise what is happening. A Government confident in its stewardship of public funds should welcome scrutiny. Honest administrations do not fear auditors, investigators or parliamentary oversight. They facilitate them because transparency strengthens public trust.

Instead, Guyanese are witnessing the opposite. Oversight is frustrated. Meetings are cancelled. Excuses replace accountability. The institution entrusted with protecting taxpayers has been reduced to a political football.

The consequences extend beyond Parliament. Investors watch governance. International partners watch governance. Citizens watch governance. Every cancelled PAC meeting reinforces the perception that accountability exists only as a campaign slogan while transparency remains conditional upon political convenience.

The Government cannot continue speaking about good governance while simultaneously rendering the PAC ineffective. Those two positions cannot coexist.

The people deserve answers. Why are Government members repeatedly unavailable? Why reject every alternative meeting date? Why create rules that allow one side to shut down parliamentary oversight simply by refusing to attend? If there is nothing to hide, why is there such determined resistance to scrutiny?

The PAC was never intended to function as a ceremonial committee that meets only when politically convenient. It was established to protect taxpayers by holding governments accountable for every dollar entrusted to them. That constitutional responsibility is far too important to be sacrificed on the altar of partisan politics.

The Government should immediately ensure that its members attend meetings, allow the committee to resume its work without obstruction, and demonstrate that its commitment to accountability extends beyond speeches and press releases.

Until then, every cancelled PAC meeting sends the same unmistakable message: this Government fears scrutiny more than it values transparency. And that should concern every Guyanese taxpayer.

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• Editorial, PAC, Public Accounts Committee, taxpayers

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