PPP puts PAC on the rack

Jul 03, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Hard Truths by GHK Lall

(Kaieteur News) – To put on the rack. To subject someone or something to unbearable torments. Reduce to a wreck by putting on the rack. Physical and mental. Emotional and psychological. The English were good with on the rack practice. Still are in some ways. My regards to the new High Commissioner. From the British Commons, I move to the commonness of PPP Guyana. Welcome to what Guyanese call with some accuracy ‘common class.’ The PAC put to the tortures of the rack. A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of all objects spreadeagled and savaged. The committee that deals with the spending of public money. What does the PPP Government have to fear?

It was that American Master, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who copied from Bacon a timeless, priceless, gem. ‘The only thing to fear is fear itself.’ He didn’t know PPP Guyana. Thus, FDR neglected that crucial ingredient. The only thing that the PPP fears more than fear itself is the PAC. For real? Examine the ground. Check the facts. No quorum, no forum. Absence, recess. PAC postponed. Who changed the rules, and with what curved intent in mind? It wasn’t me. Try the People’s Progressive Party. If crippling the PAC is progressive, then insanity reigns supreme locally. Plus, political vulgarity. If closing down the PAC is in the interests of the people, a question stirs: which people? Common people or corrupt people?

To amend the procedures, then assassinate them, requires minds dedicated to extraordinary criminality. What is there to count? Who to call to the carpet? Whose head to roll? Nada. Nyet. Non. I must admit if ever there was a parliamentary masterstroke, the PAC quorum revision is it. Something of beauty. Also, a national profanity. Is this what the foreign diplomats intended? Parliament reopened, only for the PPP Government to close down the PAC? What’s that one again: non compos mentis? To unsound mind, add unsteady standing. Who vex vex! If I were those diplomats, I would ask to be recalled. Guyana is dirty duty. Hazardous to health.

I’m seeking a way out this, ah, impasse. Bottleneck? Freedom House roadblock? Let’s settle this at clogged, overflowing toilet. A nasty business, the PAC now is. Recommendation tabled. No billing. Don’t even mention my name.

Pres. Ali has frequently proved himself a master problem solver. He is the man to unharness this PAC snafu. To set it free from its restraints. Set it on a different path. A straight one. With lights on 24/7. Pres. Ali has the enviable record of being Guyana’s only one-man jury panel, its one-man court of appeal, and its one-man final tribunal. He is the man to ease the PAC constipation. I hear he is good at that: a doctor knowing how to unblock constipation. The Opposition should cooperate. Specifically, the We Invest in Nationhood chair, the Hon. Vishnu Panday, MP. Waive the role of chair. Hand to Excellency Ali. Then watch PAC wonders and miracles multiply. Recall: Mohamed moved mountains. Enter Dr. Ali.

Herculean stables to be cleaned: six years of spending. PPP spending. He is busy, so I reduce his chairmanship to five years. Out-of-the-world reviewing of audit reporting on PPP spending of public monies. Year One: what’s the problem? I have no problem. Move on. Year Two: a big hole here, a bigger spending hole there, and big, big spending holes all over. Put those down to PPP haters. See what I mean? An uber problem solver. Year Three: reports inspected. Impressive. Not findings, but that the PPP has such sharp workers. Remember some ministers and who rushed to their defence? Now think PAC, and the song is the same. Year Four: ‘like de audit peeple doan have real wuk to do!’ Shoveling dirt, covering with mud. I said similarly of many things. Nobody cared. Year Five: like ministers, the Audit Office is a responsible presence in the Cabinet (sorry, country). Nothing off-colour (no pun). There’s the final chapter of presidential chairmanship of the PAC. The end. Easy as ice-cream.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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GHK Lall, PAC, PPP, Public Accounts Committee

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