Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Jermaine Figueira says moves are being made by Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira to change the quorum requirement of the committee. This, he alleged, is being done to avoid scrutiny of government spending.
During a press conference on Friday afternoon, the Member of Parliament (MP) said he and his fellow opposition members were “astonished” by the inclusion on the Order Paper for Wednesday’s sitting of the National Assembly, a motion submitted by the minister to amend Standing Orders No. 95(6).
According to the Chairman, the amendment will force the PAC’s structure to mimic that of standing order 83(5) for the Parliamentary Management Committee, which provides for five members to be a quorum of which two represent the government, two represent the opposition and the other is the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House filling in as Chairman.
The current quorum for a Public Accounts Committee meeting is three members, irrespective of party affiliation, and this makes it vastly different from all other committees of the Parliament and provides for a more independent and apolitical environment, Figueira contends.
He added that intended changes were not discussed at the level of the PAC, although the mover, Teixeira, is a member.
The MP noted also, that the motion is being brought directly to the House, and not via the Standing Orders Committee, which is the long-established and correct route.
This, he said, “is of grave concern”. The government has the majority of seats in the Assembly.
Figueira further noted that the Speaker of the National Assembly is the Chairman of the Standing Orders Committee, and he has never called a single meeting of the committee since the life of the 12th Parliament began in August 2020.
“We in the APNU+AFC are confident that the effect of this motion will be that by their mere non-attendance, the PPP will stymie the functioning of the PAC rendering it impotent and nonfunctional. This will impact negatively on the committees’ ability to ensure accountability and transparency in the expenditures,” he said.
The PAC Chairman added, “since the 12th parliament, the PAC has been carrying out its mandate and meeting on every statutory date, and our work has been executed in very efficient manner. We see this as another attempt to slow down the work of the PAC by the PPP, to ensure that fewer meetings are held, and on occasions if they do not want certain agencies examined, they can now prevent that by simply not attending PAC.”
The politician is calling on the House Speaker, Manzoor Nadir to act and the people of Guyana to speak out “against this deliberate act to prevent scrutiny, hinder the proper examination of national expenditures and to limit the PAC’s work to hold government and accounting officers accountable”.
