Despite continuing contentions over its chairmanship, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has moved to seek nominees in order to reconstitute the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
During a virtual press conference on Thursday, Chairman of the PAC David Patterson said that at a meeting on Monday there was a unanimous agreement to move forward in seeking applications for suitable candidates for the PPC.
Patterson said the PAC agreed unanimously that letters will be written to the individual political parties in Parliament inviting them to submit nominees for the PPC directly to the PAC.
As a result, he said on Wednesday letters were dispatched the General Secretaries of the Peoples Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the Alliance for Change (AFC), the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), The New Movement (TNM) and A New and United Guyana (ANUG).
Commencing on Friday, Patterson said, public advertisements would be placed in the various forms of media and on the Parliament website inviting the public, private sector agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other institutions to submit names of suitable candidates to the PPC.
An ad in Friday’s Stabroek News invited the submission of the names of proposed nominees from stakeholders, political parties, civil organisations, as well as individuals with an interest in the establishment and proper working of the PPC.
It explained that it is the wish of the PAC that the composition of the Public Procurement Commission would reflect, as far as possible, the national and gender make-up of Guyana. “The nominees should first and foremost be competent to carry out the required duties. The usual considerations regarding the need to be of good repute, without criminal records and [with] no history of bankruptcy, apply,” it said.
According to Patterson, May 17th has been set as the date for return of all applications, after which they would be considered and recommendations will be forwarded to the National Assembly for ratification.
“The AFC is committed to ensuring that this important Constitutional Commission is fully established in the shortest possible time,” he said.
The PPC is legally charged to “monitor public procurement and the procedure therefor in order to ensure that the procurement of goods, services and execution of works are conducted in a fair, equitable, transparent competitive and cost effective manner according to law and such policy guidelines as may be determined by the National Assembly.”
‘Rejected’
The PAC is responsible for nominating the five members of the commission and then taking it to the National Assembly for its approval by no less than two thirds of the 65-member House. The last – and first – PPC expired last October and its reconstitution is among the work of the PAC that has been impacted by efforts to remove Patterson from the chairmanship of the parliamentary committee.
A recent legal opinion secured by Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs on whether government could assume its chairmanship was rejected during the last meeting on Monday.
Patterson during Thursday’s news conference explained that when the PAC met on Monday, April 12, the report on the legal opinion provided by attorney Keavon Bess was “struck out” and as such the meeting was once again aborted.
“…We were forced to make a decision in a sense that we could not adopt the entire report because the report went outside the scope of what the PAC has asked for… The report was struck out. There was no way forward”,” Patterson said.
Isaacs was directed to seek a legal opinion on behalf of the PAC on whether Standing Order 95 (4) overrides Standing Order 82 (2) whereby a member who is not a member of the main opposition in the Assembly, in the absence of the Chairperson, can be elected Chairperson of the PAC for the day of his or her election.
The advice suggested that the governing PPP/C, with its majority, can for the day at least elect a chair from its numbers so as to move a motion to remove Patterson.
Isaacs has been advised that while Standing Order (SO) 95(4) does not override SO 82(2), it can be used for the continuation of the business of PAC through the election of a chairperson on a day-to-day basis.
According to the legal opinion provided Bess, the framers of the Standing Orders did not intend for the work and function of the PAC to be stymied by the actions of the Chair or main opposition. Bess concludes that a wide literal interpretation of 95(4) posits that all members of the PAC, including government members, are eligible for election as Chair “but their tenure shall be for the day of his/her election or the day of the meeting.”
He went further to advise that SO 82 (2) be amended to provide for the resignation of the Chairperson and the election of a replacement in accordance with what is stipulated therein.
This amendment should allow the committee to “avoid future absurdity and confusion,” he stated.
Patterson, however, noted that while Bess specifically answered the question asked by Isaacs, made further statements outside of what was asked by PAC.
“Having received the advice, the lawyer answered very specifically that question asked by the clerk…He clearly says that Standing Order 95 (4) does not overrides Standing Order 82 (2). That was all that was asked from him,” he said.
“The PAC enquired why, how come he was empowered to make statements outside of the direct question asked to him. He made statements in his opinion that the main opposition is stalling the work of the PAC and those things like that….He went on to mention some recommendations,” Patterson added.
The motion for Patterson’s removal was laid in the Committee in February 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. No other justification for the motion has been provided in the Committee.
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.
Patterson has been the subject of controversy since his successor Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill accused him and his former junior Minister Annette Ferguson of accepting millions of dollars in personal gifts from agencies under their purview.
He has denied the accusations and resisted all attempts to remove him as PAC chair.
The opposition APNU+AFC has specifically condemned what is said were efforts by the PPP/C government to dismantle the “guardrails” of democracy by trying to force a change in the Chairmanship of the PAC.
