The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament today decried the repeated absence of technical officers who have been summoned to appear before it and said this delinquency must be seen as an attempt to stymie the work of the body.
In a statement today, the PAC made particular mention of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Malcolm Watkins.
A PAC Press Release issued today follows:
Today was an unprecedented day at the PAC. At the 17th meeting of the PAC a motion was moved and voted in favour of, for the PAC to be held twice per week to address the severe backlog of the examination of the Public Records for the year 2016 to present.
The following agencies were given notices to attend as is constitutionally required:
1. Ministry of Public Health
2. Ministry of Communities
At the 18th meeting held today 15th October 2021, no representative of the agencies, the Government or the technical officers showed up.
The Ministry of Public Health, appeared before the PAC in August and was asked to come back because the representatives of the agency were not prepared to answer the questions posed by the members of the PAC. Parliament went into recess for a period of two months and resumed functions on the 10th October 2021. At the first meeting of the PAC after resumption, the Ministry of Public Health was given due notice to attend the meeting and Permanent Secretary, Mr. Malcolm Watkins, sent a letter saying the agency was unable to attend. The Ministry of Public Health was once again notice to attend the PAC meeting today, 15th October 2021 and again the Permanent Secretary Watkins did not attend to answer questions.
The Government side of the Committee has the freedom to show up or not to show up, however, the technical officers does not enjoy that freedom since they are constitutionally required to attend PAC meetings. The Opposition members of the PAC view the absence of the technical officers and accounting officers as blatant disrespect for the PAC.
It must be noted that the PAC uses both the physical and virtual platforms for persons to attend due the COVID 19 pandemic. This platform has been utilized before by agencies, the government, the opposition and members of the technical team. Also, if a technical officer cannot attend because of extreme circumstances, that officer is required to send a represent in his/her stead.
The collective absence of the agencies, the government and the technical officers cannot be viewed in any other light than a collective attempt to stymie the work of the PAC.
The opposition members of PAC remains committed to advancing the work of the PAC, to this end the following agencies are scheduled to attend PAC:
Scheduled for Monday 18th October 2021
Region No. 10 – Upper Demerara/Berbice
Region No. 6 – East Berbice/Corentyne
Region No. 5 – Mahaica/Berbice
Rescheduled for Friday 22nd October 2021
Ministry of Public Health
Ministry of Communities