Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir on Friday met with Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Jermaine Figueira and Government’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira and recommendations were made to resolve issues affecting the work of the committee.
The meeting came in the wake of Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs advising Figueira than several PAC meeting would have to be cancelled as none of the clerks wanted to provide service to it. The PAC had also been in strife over a motion by government members to reduce the number of meetings from twice weekly to weekly.
Figueira, in a brief comment on Friday afternoon, told Stabroek News that the recommendations from the meeting with Nadir will be tabled at today’s scheduled PAC meeting and will be discussed by members. He noted that after deliberations they will determine whether the recommendations will be accepted or not.
Among the issues discussed during Friday’s meeting were Teixeira’s motion to reverse the PAC’s decision to meet twice weekly and how it would address concerns about its backlog of work.
“We will have to take back the positions to both sides and have it discussed and bring it to finality on Monday,” Figueira said.
The meeting with the Speaker had been postponed from Wednesday due to the unavailability of Teixeira, also the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance.
Since taking up the post of PAC Chair, Figueira has advocated for the Committee to meet more frequently to clear the backlog. However, members of the government side have argued that twice-weekly meetings would be onerous and they may not be able to attend due to other commitments.
“The Honourable Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, who sits on 90% of Committees of Parliament, has to accept that she is not omniscient nor omnipresent and meetings of the respective committees can actually go on quite well without her presence. This need to dominate and bully is disgusting and doesn’t augur well for a democratic and developing society,” Figueira had previously told Stabroek News.
He added that the PAC needs to proceed with its work and frequent meetings are required to address the backlog in the examination of public spending. He proposed that government ministers relinquish their posts on the PAC since they are tasked with the responsibilities of managing certain sectors.
“I’m of the firm belief, under our tenure and now, that ministers of government should not sit on the PAC. The government has other people, young people they can use and provide them with the opportunity to learn. The PPP should do as the Opposition, where three of its four members are under forty,” Figueira added.
Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill is also a member of the committee.
The work of the PAC had been snagged for the last week after Isaacs informed the PAC of the unavailability of a clerk for the committee meetings.
In his letter to the PAC, Isaacs said “…the present Clerk of the Committee has developed health issues because of high-stress levels and cannot continue to clerk the Committee.” He attributed the Clerk’s high stress level to the “frequent challenges” being encountered at the meetings.
“All other Clerks of Committees are unwilling to clerk for 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 wrote to the Committee members before informing of the cancellation of two meetings.
However, on Tuesday, Figueira informed this newspaper that a Clerk had been identified for the Committee and that a meeting is scheduled for today.
“I met with the new Clerk for the Committee and we set the agenda and it has already been sent to all the members. We will be meeting on Monday (November 1, 2021) at 10 am and we will be dealing with two agencies, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Communities. There are also some supplemental responses that we will be dealing with as well,” he said during a telephone interview.
While the APNU+AFC government was in office, Figueira noted that the PAC met for two weeks to clear their backlog.
