A proposal to consolidate three years of the Auditor General reports on government spending in a bid to clear the backlog of the work of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is expected to be debated on Monday.
At the last meeting, the item was placed on the agenda by PAC Chairman Jermaine Figueira and appeared to be accepted without any objections. However, at the end of the meeting, Figueria said two members, Gail Teixeira and another also from the government, raised objections.
As a result, the proposal for the merging of reports is expected to be debated at the next statutory meeting, scheduled for tomorrow.
Figueira, using precedent set by two past chairmen of the PAC, Carl Greenidge, and now president Irfaan Ali, is proposing that the reports be merged to expedite the scrutiny of government expenditure for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019.
During Greenidge’s chairmanship the 2010 and 2011 reports were consolidated, while during Ali’s tenure when he was an opposition Member of Parliament the 2012, 2013 and 2014 reports were consolidated.
Figueira explained that his proposal was made with those precedents in mind and given the fact that the committee had unanimously agreed that there is a major backlog of work to be done.
However, with government’s side of the house now objecting to proposal, Figueira said the matter will have to be debated to determine the way forward.
Figueira said based on the ongoing review of the 2016 report, many matters that were raised in the Auditor General’s report have been resolved. He further opined that dedicating time to year-by-year reviews is a waste of time and resources given that many of the issues are no longer prevalent.
Government members of the Committee, in joint statement issued last week, said, “We wish to categorically state that no decision has been taken to merge any audit reports as is being suggested by Mr Figueira. The matter was raised by Mr Figueira at the last meeting of the PAC where he attempted to rule on the matter unilaterally, but was rebuffed by the Government members of the Committee.”
Their response was made after multiple media reports indicating that a decision was taken for the merger of reports.
Should this debate not be fully ventilated on Monday, it will further delay the work of the PAC.
Both Figueira and Teixeira are on record as committing to work together to address the backlog.
Teixeira, however, suggested that the objective of the opposition is to fast track the work so as to get to the 2020 report when her government took office. “They want to jump [to] that where they believe [the] three months we were in government terrible things happened…”
When elected in July of this year, Figueira had said that the PAC would seek to meet twice weekly in an attempt to clear its four-year backlog. This was opposed by the government members.
According to its mandate, the PAC is responsible for examining the audited accounts, as presented in the Auditor General’s Report, showing the appropriation of sums granted by the National Assembly to meet public expenditure and such other accounts laid before the Assembly; exercising general supervision over the functioning of the Auditor General; and nominating the members of the Public Procurement Commission for approval by the National Assembly and, thereafter, the appointment by the President; and to determine the emoluments and allowances of the Public Procurement Commission in consultation with the Commission.
