Following a request from the members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Clerk of the National Assembly has secured a legal opinion on whether Standing Order 82 (2) which states that the Chairperson of the PAC must be a Member of the main Opposition in the Assembly is sacrosanct.
“As of last Wednesday I have identified a lawyer who has agreed to provide a legal opinion. He has indicated that that opinion is ready and will be sent to my office. Actually it was to be at my office [yesterday] but I was not in office due to a death in my family. [Today] I shall examine that letter and forward that advice to the PAC Chair and the various Chief Whips before advising that a meeting of the Committee should be convened,” Clerk, Sherlock Isaacs told Stabroek News yesterday.
The scope of the Standing Order was, according to PAC Chair David Patterson, questioned during a meeting last week when the government members of the Committee attempted to elect one of their own members as Chair so as to pass a motion for his removal.
The motion was laid in the Committee last month by Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira. It calls for Patterson to recuse himself as Chair due to a lack of confidence on the part of the government.
Patterson, who has been the subject of controversy ever since it was revealed that he and his former junior Minister Annette Ferguson accepted millions of dollars in personal gifts from agencies under their purview, has so far resisted all attempts to remove him
He has been supported by his colleagues in the House and his party the Alliance for Change (AFC).
The February 1 meeting of the Committee stalled after Patterson recused himself from the Chair during the consideration of the motion and all other Opposition members refused to take his place. The same thing happened on March 15.
In a letter published in the March 18 edition of the Stabroek News, Patterson stated that an attempt was made to invoke Standing Order 95 (4) which states that if the Chairperson is unable to be present at any meeting, the Committee shall elect another Chairperson whose tenure of office shall be for the day of his or her election.
“Legal advice was sought from Sanjeev Datadin (the only lawyer on the Committee) and quite unsurprisingly, he claimed that Clause 95 outweighed Clause 82, thus the Committee can proceed to elect a government Chairperson. Juretha Fernandes on behalf of the Opposition objected on the grounds that the advice was bad and biased as well as the fact that the Clerk should not be relying on advice from a member of the Committee who has a vested interest in the outcome of the matter,” Patterson stated.
The meeting was therefore aborted to allow Isaacs to seek the advice he has now received.
Notably Standing Order 95(1) specifically specifies that its terms apply to all Standing and Select committee except as otherwise provided in Standing Orders. This would suggest that the PAC whose composition and chairmanship are government by SO 85 do not fall within the scope of SO 95.
