OPPOSITION Member of Parliament (MP), Jermaine Figueira, has been appointed as the new Chairman of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC). He replaces his more senior colleague in the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance Change (APNU+AFC) party, David Patterson, who was appointed in December 2020, and removed earlier this month.
In taking up his new role, Figueira expressed commitment towards executing the mandate of the PAC, which is largely responsible for scrutinising financial irregularities flagged in the annual Auditor General (AG)’s report.
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Friday, Figueira reminded that the work of the PAC is far behind schedule, with MPs only now examining the contents of the AG’s 2016 report.
“We have a lot of backlogs in work that we need to address. It is our intention in the Opposition to redouble our efforts to catch up, especially before Parliament goes into recess,” Figueira said.

In preparing to take up position at the helm of the PAC, the young parliamentarian said that his team on the opposition benches endeavour to have frequent PAC meetings before the Parliament takes its break. “Perhaps two PAC meetings per week,” Figueira noted.
He added: “We on the opposition are prepared to do what is expected of us…which is to ensure accountability and transparency of the people’s money,” the Lindener posited.
Figueira’s predecessor, David Patterson, was removed via a motion tabled in the National Assembly in June.
Prior to that motion, in February, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, moved a motion calling for Patterson to be replaced by another opposition member of the PAC.

Teixeira had premised her motion on the fact that Patterson was facing public allegations relating to fraud and mismanagement of public funds. He was, therefore, deemed unfit to spearhead the work of the PAC, which is tasked with scrutinising irregularities highlighted in the AG’s annual reports.
At the time of that motion, the PAC was still examining the findings of the 2016 AG Report, which highlighted “paragraph after paragraph” worth of infractions on the part of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, headed by Patterson during his party’s 2015-2020 tenure in government.
Patterson was also criminally charged for allegedly defrauding the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) – an agency previously under his purview. The opposition Member of Parliament is also being investigated as part of the gift-giving scandal, in which he allegedly benefitted from gifts valuing more than $2 million, from agencies that were under his remit.

Teixeira had made it clear that despite the allegations against Patterson, her motion did not pursue his removal as a member of the PAC, but simply called for him to be replaced as its Chairman, by another opposition PAC member.
At that time, however, the other three opposition PAC members, Ganesh Mahipaul, Figueira and Juretha Fernandes, refused to take Patterson’s place, insisting that the former minister has earned the full confidence of his Coalition party.
Because of Patterson’s continued refusal to entertain the no-confidence motion against himself, at the level of the PAC, Teixeira moved to have the full-house National Assembly address the matter. Following an all-night debate, Patterson was eventually removed from his post at the PAC Chairman.
In reflecting on his colleague’s removal, Figueira said that “No one would have expected that such a motion would be put against Patterson” as he was doing a “phenomenal job”.
Asked whether Patterson will remain a member of the PAC, Figueira responded in the positive. “I am persuaded that he will [remain]; I see no reason why he should recuse himself,” Figueira posited.