It is inconceivable that the Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee can criticise and label anyone on the grounds of delay in discharging their responsibilities, a press release from The Ministry of Finance said yesterday. This is the same opposition-led PAC whose functions continue to be characterised by delays on delays, the release said.
The release continues:
“The public is kept up to date with the dates on which the annual submission of the Public Accounts by the Auditor General is done.
“Less or minimal attention is paid by the media to the time that annual report is examined by the Public Accounts Committee and reported to Parliament.
“What the current chairperson would not like to disclose is the dates the Auditor General submitted the annual report for each year from 2000 to 2008, and the dates the corresponding PAC reports were actually submitted to the House.
“In the case of the 2004 Auditor General’s report, the said report was tabled in the National Assembly on March 16th, 2006. The PAC concluded its deliberations and tabled its 2004 report, four years later in March, 2010.
“That information would expose the hollowness of the current claim about delays by the Minister of Finance and should lead to the real issue, the functioning of the opposition led PAC.
“Even more alarming is the factually inaccurate assertion by the Chairperson of the PAC that there has been a delay in the submission on the latest treasury memorandum.
“The facts are indisputable.
“The Standing Orders refer to a stipulated time of 90 days within which the Government should respond to the Parliamentary Resolution on the PAC report.
“The resolution of the motion by the chairperson of the PAC was adopted in March, giving the Government until June to respond to the points made in the resolution.
“The Treasury memorandum was submitted to the National Assembly on June 14th, 2010.
“What is contemptuous about that train of events is yet to be disclosed by the Chairperson.
“Generously, the chairperson can be said to be playing politics.
“Critically, this charade exposed the inclination of the opposition to stoop to absurd lows in its efforts to score political points.
“Worse yet, it exposes the willingness of the media to give prominence, coverage to matters unworthy of the most junior of journalists.
“This apparent tryst, Opposition and willing media, undermine attention to journalism and its role in the Free Press,” the release concluded.