Chairman of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Jermaine Figueira yesterday said that he has been informed by the Clerk of the National Assembly that a clerk for the committee has been identified.
The identification of a clerk paves the way for PAC sittings to resume. However, the Chairman stated that the Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir has requested a meeting with him and Government Chief Whip Gail Teixeira. They are expected to meet today to further iron out issues that have been brewing within the committee and delaying its work.
Figueira told Stabroek News that Isaacs wrote to him yesterday informing him of the identification of the Clerk and the speaker’s request. Figueira added that he will propose a sitting of the PAC be held as early as Friday.
The Chairman had previously stated that he was shocked to hear that a clerk was unavailable to the PAC. He noted that the former clerk, who has indicated that she would be unable to continue in the post, had not worked with the committee for more than two months and during that time meetings were held once a week.
He added that while the APNU+AFC coalition government was in office, meetings had been held for two weeks uninterrupted to clear their backlog. Figueira opined that something seems to be amiss.
Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs informed Figueira last Thursday that the meetings scheduled for last Friday and Monday were cancelled due to the unavailability of clerks.
This development came amidst a row over a recent decision by the PAC to meet twice a week to clear its backlog of work.
“…The present Clerk of the Committee has developed health issues because of high stress levels and cannot continue to clerk the Committee,” Isaacs said in a letter to the PAC’s members, while noting the “frequent challenges” being encountered at its meetings.
“All other Clerks of Committees are unwilling to clerk the Public Accounts Committee because of the unprofessional conduct of some members of this Committee, which is not conducive to a healthy working environment. Unfortunately, in light of the above, I am unable to provide the Public Accounts Committee with a Clerk…” Isaacs added in the letter, which was released to the media on Friday by Parliament Office.
Isaacs’ reference to “unprofessional conduct” had come as a surprise as there had been no known complaint about such behaviour to the Chair of the PAC.
Figueira also noted that while the correspondence referred to unprofessional conduct he did not share that view. He asserted that the members conduct themselves professionally. However, he acknowledged that at times members can be “loud” as they debate matters but he would always step in and caution them to refrain from such behaviour.
When elected in July of this year as Chair, Figueira had said that the PAC would seek to meet twice weekly in an attempt to clear its four-year backlog. There is, however, currently a dispute among members on the number of days the PAC should meet. Government has been arguing that a motion passed by the committee to meet twice every week is burdensome and they may not be able to attend due to other commitments.
