Public Accounts Committee-the past lives on

Jun 29, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is open to do the work of the people. Check how their business was done, their money spent. The PPP/C Government closed it down, put it out of business again. We hope that it is temporary, and not a continuation of the tricks at which this government is so skilled in delivering. Temporary looks more unlikely, while government tricks simply keep adding to the record of before.

The reconvening of this parliament was held up for over 100 days. What is it that the PPP/C Government fears so much that it snatches that invaluable time away from the work of parliament and its committees? The PAC is to review the findings of the audit office, and those focus on how the money was spent, how the procedures were followed, and how those put in management throughout Guyana performed. Over multimillion dollar projects, over the proper recording of monies received and disbursed, and over small and big projects. The record is there, and the new chair of the PAC, Vishnu Panday of the We Invest in Nationhood party is raising his voice, letting local taxpayers know what is happening.

Already four dates proposed came to naught. In this new parliament and newly constituted PAC, it is the same old practice. The new PPP/C Government is up to its old tricks that reek of deviousness. Government members named to the PAC are unavailable. They have other work to do, which clashes with the proposed dates of Monday 22^nd June, Tuesday 23^rd , Wednesday 24^th , and Friday 26^th . Which date would not be a clash? When will the PPP/C Government’s representatives on the PAC ever be available? We expect Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Texeira, to be her usual creative self. Namely, to put out some spin that effectively shoves the unavailability of the government’s side of the PAC into a non-issue. That may be so for the government, but citizens still have an interest in knowing how their billions from record budgets have been handled. If the government is so distressed, so dodgy, with accounting for hundreds of billions, trillions in aggregate, what is it comfortable presenting to the people whose hides those trillions have been extracted from?

Not much of anything, as the records of parliament clearly indicate. The audit reviews and findings from 2019 to 2024 have not been allowed so much as a glance. Six years of trillions in spending, and Guyanese have to deal with a government that delivers only absences and tricks. In the highest forum in this country, this is now the norm, seemingly part of the parliamentary standing orders. When will the financial records for those six years ever be given the kind of serious attention that they are due, so that taxpayers get some value for their sacrifices? We shift attention to the courts of Guyana for a minute. We ask citizens to consider how such delays with every intent to stonewall would have been treated by a jurist or a panel of such. This is how the government disrespects Guyana’s highest house, and insults Guyanese.

Much has been quite rightly made about the years when the APNU+AFC Coalition was in charge. Today, when the years of PPP/C governance must be subject to scrutiny and discussed at length, the PPP/C Government goes many miles to ensure that its PAC members are occupied with other matters. No quorum, no PAC meetings and deliberations. Neat and effective, as well as protective of whatever million-dollar secrets that the government has presided over, but now wants to hide. Having partied lavishly on the backs of Guyanese taxpayers, every scheme, every subterfuge, is employed by the government. The objective is not to expose its probable many corruptions with finances, and its failures at honest management.

It is likely that due to so much having to be hidden from the public, there is only one option left to the PPP/C Government. To stonewall the PAC into impotency and uselessness as long as possible. The government has made a start, showed its hand. Expect more of the same going forward. Going around in circles through endless delays is going forward for this government, serving citizens honestly.

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Editorial, PPP/C, Public Accounts Committee

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