AFC MP Trevor Williams has rejected suggestions that he deliberately absented himself during Monday’s crucial vote by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on appointments in the Auditor General’s Office, in order to allow government members to get their way.
“I think it is unfortunate to hear such comments,” Williams told an AFC press conference on Wednesday at the Sidewalk Café, on Middle Street, that his late arrival was “unfortunate” and that he did his “best to be there.” He was said to be travelling on the Essequibo River at the time when the vote took place. “I couldn’t be at the PAC meeting on Monday; hence Mrs. Teixeira played her back tricks…. Parliament, for us, is about principle against being tricky and mischievous and it’s unfortunate that it had to come to this,” Williams added.
Using their majority in the absence of Williams, the PPP/C members of the PAC forced a vote to confirm appointments in the Auditor General’s Office recommended by acting Auditor General Deodat Sharma. The appointments included that of Gitanjali Singh, the wife of Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, whose promotion the parliamentary opposition APNU and AFC say opens her up to conflicts of interest.
Williams, who suggested that the PAC’s decision could be overturned and that the party would move for this to be done, added that it was “the unethical” actions in the Parliament that should be emphasised.
When questioned about the need for a conscientious effort to be early at the PAC meeting, given the sensitivity of the issue, AFC Executive Member David Patterson pointed out that the appointments were not even on the agenda for the meeting. Patterson also said that the AFC had long taken the lead in having the PAC address the appointments in a proper manner and that the consideration of the appointments had been ongoing for over two years. “Nothing is cast in stone… we can call to have it reviewed at the PAC level next week,” he said, while also noting that even when the PPP/C had the opportunity to confirm the appointments when it had the majority in the Ninth Parliament it did not.
On Tuesday, AFC called for a review of the appointments, saying that the party was dissatisfied with the actions of the government members on the PAC.
Given the constitutional and ethical implications of the situation, AFC said it ought not to have been the subject of a PAC vote “as engineered by the PPP representative” in the absence of the full committee. “This is tantamount to a sleight of hand especially in the context of the previous meeting when the AFC member asked for an adjournment to be given time for the committee to be better advised,” the AFC said.
