The Alliance for Change (AFC) will be approaching the courts to compel the Speaker of the National Assembly to convene the parliamentary committees including the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
This was announced by General Secretary David Patterson during a virtual press conference on Friday.
According to Patterson the failure on the part of Speaker Manzoor Nadir to convene the Committees of the National Assembly is now an obscenity.
“The failure…to convene these committees after four months, for the necessary oversight as prescribed by the laws and constitution to be done, is an outrage. COVID-19 cannot be used as an excuse because on a daily basis the Parliament Office is arranging participation in different international fora by Zoom,” he stressed.
Patterson who has been identified to Chair the PAC argued that Thursday’s handing over of the Auditor General’s report was a charade of the worst order as there is no PAC in place to peruse that report.
He had previously highlighted that the committee last met on August 6, 2018 and is a full three and a half years behind in its examination of the public accounts as detailed in the various Auditor General’s Reports.
Patterson has repeatedly called for the committees to be convened and highlighted that the Parliamentary Standing Orders prescribe that the Speaker convene the first meeting of each committee so that a Chairperson can be elected from its members.
The same Orders, according to Patterson, provide for the Speaker to nominate either the Deputy Speaker or another member of parliament to convene the meeting on his behalf if he is unavailable.
Nadir in turn has maintained that his office is “working hard” to convene the Committees but there has been a delay since they are currently facing “some” challenges.
“…..We are still looking at arrangements for convening the first meeting not only of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) but all the other committees that were appointed,” Nadir told reporters on Thursday.
He explained that priority is being placed on having all members present.
“We are working hard….There are some challenges and when you are doing the first meeting it’s like an election you have to ensure that you have everything in place to get all of the people who are members of those committees present because (that) first meeting is a voting meeting to elect chairpersons of the committees. So be patient,” Nadir explained.
Asked to identify the challenges being faced, Nadir responded “one will be logistics”.
He added that a number of mechanisms are being examined including the establishment of virtual meetings which will enable members to participate from their homes.
He made a similar comment to Stabroek News last week when he explained that the meetings had not been convened due to “scheduling conflicts”.
