After more than three months since its last sitting, the National Assembly is slated to reconvene on June 10, while the government has served notice of a motion to remove APNU+AFC member David Patterson from chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
According to the Order Paper released by the Parliament Office, opposition members’ questions and motions are slated to be dealt with at the Private Members’ Sitting, which follows complaints by the main opposition APNU+AFC that there had not been a sitting since March 4.
In a letter copied to President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Duarte Pacheco, ParlAmericas President Blanca Ovelar and Secretary General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Stephen Twigg, Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones complained that there was no indication from the Speaker of any intended date for another sitting.
He informed that during this “forced closure” of the National Assembly, 487 questions for oral and written replies have been submitted by the opposition MPs on matters of health, security, governance, environment, education, economic and international relations and they remain unanswered.
Following a second outbreak of COVID-19 among staff at the Parliament Office, Speaker Manzoor Nadir had announced that all sittings of the Assembly and Parliamentary Committees would be suspended and that he would give approval for virtual meetings of
committees when he was satisfied that all members have access to the internet so that they can fully participate.
Meanwhile, Parliament Office also circulated the motion in the name of Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira for Patterson’s removal due to his alleged violations of the Committee’s Standing Orders.
“Be it resolved that as a result of Mr. David Patterson’s conduct as Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee with respect to his open violation of the Standing Orders… in particular since February 1, the majority of the members of the Public Accounts Committee have lost confidence in him as the Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee,” the motion reads.
The specific conduct attributed to Patterson is a failure to “put” a motion for his removal to the Committee before vacating the seat of Chair at four consecutive meetings. Patterson is also accused of refusing to adhere to a direction from the Speaker that he put the motion to a vote.
“David Patterson has demonstrated that he has no respect for the Speaker of the National Assembly and, it would appear, in the absence of a response to the Speaker’s letter he is unprepared to obey the Speaker’s instruction; he has disregarded the advice of the Clerk of the National Assembly on several occasions with regard to the Standing Orders and is resolute in his refusal, using all forms of subterfuge, to allow the motion for his removal to be “put” to the vote,” Teixeira’s motion states.
Reached for comment on the motion, Patterson said, “We will address that at the Assembly.”
The PPP/C members of the PAC has been attempting since February 1 to remove Patterson from his chairmanship according to the motion because of “exposures during the examination of the 2016 Auditor General’s Report.” These exposures have never been identified though Patterson has been accused of accepting gifts from agencies under his portfolio when he was Minister of Public Infrastructure.
