-more PAC meetings held now than under APNU+AFC, Minister Teixeira says

AS the Opposition continues to use the media to publicise lies and mislead the public, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira in setting the record straight, has disclosed that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the 12th Parliament has already held 61 meetings, which is 17 more than were held under the Granger-led administration.

Minister Teixeira on Friday provided statistical data to debunk the untruths that are repeated weekly in the media and show that after a little under four years of People’s Progressive Party/Civic governance, the PAC has met more frequently.

According to her, from 2021 to present, 61 meetings have been held while 44 were held from 2015-2019 and 58 for the period 2012-2014. APNU+AFC, led by David Granger, was in government during the 2015 to 2019 period.

In terms of reports detailing the work of the PAC during the abovementioned periods, she said that one report was submitted to the National Assembly during the 10th Parliament, three reports covering six Annual Audit Reports were submitted during the 11th Parliament and two reports covering three Annual Audit Reports were submitted during the 12th Parliament.

She went on to highlight that the report submitted during the 10th Parliament concerned public accounts for the year 2009. The PAC Chairman at the time was Carl Greenidge.

For the 11th Parliament under the chairmanship of Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, who is now Guyana’s President, there was a combined report of the public accounts for
the years 2010 and 2011; a combined report on the public accounts for
the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 and a report on the public accounts for the year 2015.

Additionally, there was a report of the PAC on the appointment of members to the Public Procurement Commission, Minister Teixeira said in her release.

Regarding the current parliament, led by Jermaine Figueira, the PAC has submitted a report on the public accounts for the year 2016. A combined report on the public accounts for the years 2017 and 2018 has been completed and is
awaiting a Sitting of the National Assembly to be tabled.

Further, the minister indicated that a report of the PAC on the appointment of
members to the Public Procurement Commission was another report submitted by the PAC under Figueira’s chairmanship.

Teixeira said that the accusations of Opposition members of the PAC is “interesting.”

She said: “It is rather interesting that certain media houses weekly repeat ad nauseum the accusations of the Opposition members on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in regards to its meetings, without any attempt to verify whether the claims have merit. Much liberty is given to conclusions accusing the Government members but regrettably for the critics, the functioning of the PAC in the 12th Parliament has not been diminished in comparison to the 10th and 11th Parliaments, quorum or no quorum.

“One can easily observe from the matrix that the PAC of the 11th Parliament which worked for 40 months and held 58 meetings produced the most work under the then Opposition Chairperson, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, whereas the PAC in the 12th Parliament has had 61 meetings over 30 months.

“Presently, the review of Government agencies in the PAC relates to the Annual Auditor General’s reports for the period of the former APNU+AFC government, but the number of violations of the Procurement Act, missing documents, the refusal or non-cooperation of former Permanent Secretaries and Regional Executive Officers to appear before the committee have been of little interest to some media houses which have full and complete access to the PAC
hearings for these agencies,” she said.

IN NO RUSH

It was pointed out that during the 11th Parliament, the “level of scandals and violations of the Procurement Act” was pervasive, widespread, and commented on almost daily by some media houses.

“Therefore, the Government members on the PAC have no intention of rushing through these years as the Opposition members would like us to do. Their objective is to go through these reports rapidly so as to detract public focus from what transpired during those years.

It may seem presumptuous these days for a minister to make a suggestion to the media on how it covers the Public Accounts Committee but may l do so anyway – The Auditor General reports, special reports and performance reports provide a wealth of information which should inform journalism, or reporting, on the work of the PAC and its findings, including undeniable evidence of poor management, unaccounted expenditure, lack of transparency, and denial of services to the poor and vulnerable. These shortcomings, to be polite, were compounded by
inadequate pharmaceutical and medical supplies to the regions, mismanagement of the school feeding programmes, and injustices meted out to the healthcare sector which, for example, suffered extensively from inadequate COVID-19 protective equipment and supplies during a global pandemic.

Opposition members in the PAC may want the public to forget these harsh realities that directly hurt the people of Guyana, and instead occupy the public’s attention with vacuous questions of whether the Government members and Ministers should sit on the PAC, or whether the members are attending the PAC meetings, and if the committee is meeting enough times,” Minister Teixeira said.

She said that these are mere distractions from the real issues being uncovered by the PAC.

“The fact is that the PAC today has met more often than during the 10th and 11th Parliaments and produced two (2) reports. During the 11th Parliament, within 44 meetings, three (3) reports were produced and the first Public Procurement Commission (PPC) was established under the leadership of Mohamed Irfaan Ali who was chair of the 11th Parliament’s PAC.

Further, the insinuations made by the APNU+AFC that Ministers of Government should not sit on the PAC is hypocritical and preposterous as during the APNU+AFC’s tenure in Government during the 11th parliament, two of their members on the PAC were sitting Ministers of Government. Those were Mrs. Volda Lawrence and Mrs. Valerie Patterson.”

The minister emphasised that the main issue, however, cannot be wished away.

“Facts are facts. The APNU and AFC could not adequately manage Government in their term of office and could not deliver to the people simply because corruption was rife, and much to their dissatisfaction, the work of the PAC exposes this at each meeting.

I have no intention of resigning as a member of the PAC as l am very aware of the analysis and skills l bring to the meetings, regardless of how much wilful haste the Chair and opposition exercise to rush through paragraphs at one time in an effort to hide the corruption which hallmarked the 2015-2020 period.

It is the role of the PAC to offer to the National Assembly and truly to the people of Guyana, a critical analysis of public expenditure which includes revenues earned from tax-payers,” she said.

Minister Teixeira maintained that no efforts will be spared by the Government members of the PAC to review the accounts of every year, 2015 to 2020 and beyond, as such haste from the Opposition only proves to be a “wilful disservice to all the people of Guyana.”