Gail Teixeira
April 10 ,2021
After more than a month of delays, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will meet on Monday, when it is expected to consider and act on a legal opinion secured by Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs on whether government could assume its chairmanship.
The advice secured at the behest of the Committee suggests that the governing PPP/C, with its majority, can for the day at least elect a chair from its numbers so as to move a motion to remove the substantive chair, APNU+AFC Member David Patterson.
The opinion was provided in response to a request for Isaacs that he be advised whether Standing Order 95 (4) overrides Standing Order 82 (2) whereby a member who is not a member of the main opposition in the Assembly, in the absence of the Chairperson, can be elected Chairperson of the PAC for the day of his or her election.
The scope of the Standing Order was, according to Patterson, questioned during a meeting in March when the government members of the Committee attempted to elect one of their own members as Chair so as to pass a motion for his removal.
Isaacs has been advised that while Standing Order (SO) 95(4) does not override SO 82(2), it can be used for the continuation of the business of PAC through the election of a chairperson on a day-to-day basis.
According to the legal opinion provided by attorney Keavon Bess, the framers of the Standing Orders did not intend for the work and function of the PAC to be stymied by the actions of the Chair or main opposition. Bess concludes that a wide literal interpretation of 95(4) posits that all members of the PAC, including government members, are eligible for election as Chair “but their tenure shall be for the day of his/her election or the day of the meeting.”
He went further to advise that SO 82 (2) be amended to provide for the resignation of the Chairperson and the election of a replacement in accordance with what is stipulated therein.
This amendment should allow the committee to “avoid future absurdity and confusion,” he stated.
The motion for Patterson’s removal was laid in the Committee in February by Minister of Governance and Parliamen-tary Affairs Gail Teixeira. It calls for Patterson to recuse himself as Chair due to a lack of confidence on the part of the government. No other justification for the motion has been provided in the Committee.
The February 1 meeting of the Committee stalled after Patterson recused himself from the Chair during the consideration of the motion and all other Opposition members refused to take his place. The same thing happened on March 15. As a result, the PAC;s work, including the consideration of the Auditor General’s report and the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), has been stalled to date.
In a letter published in the March 18 edition of the Stabroek News, Patterson stated that an attempt was made to invoke Standing Order 95 (4) which states that if the Chairperson is unable to be present at any meeting, the Committee shall elect another Chairperson whose tenure of office shall be for the day of his or her election.
“Legal advice was sought from Sanjeev Datadin (the only lawyer on the Committee) and quite unsurprisingly, he claimed that Clause 95 outweighed Clause 82, thus the Committee can proceed to elect a government Chairperson. Juretha Fernandes, on behalf of the Opposition, objected on the grounds that the advice was bad and biased as well as the fact that the Clerk should not be relying on advice from a member of the Committee who has a vested interest in the outcome of the matter,” Patterson stated.
The meeting was, therefore, aborted to allow Isaacs to seek the advice he has now received.
Patterson has been the subject of controversy since his successor Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill accused him and his former junior Minister Annette Ferguson of accepting millions of dollars in personal gifts from agencies under their purview.
He has denied the accusations and resisted all attempts to remove him as PAC chair.
His colleagues in the House and his party the Alliance for Change (AFC) have stood with him stressing that the motion is an improper attempt to dictate to the Opposition.
The opposition APNU+AFC has specifically condemned what is said were efforts by the PPP/C government to dismantle the “guardrails” of democracy by trying to force a change in the Chairmanship of the PAC.
“In this most recent instance, they seek to erode the meaning and spirit of Standing Order SO 82 (2) which grants the main Opposition in the National Assembly the right and power to select the Chairman of that Committee,” APNU+AFC said in a statement late last month, while reminding that the last Chair, current President Irfaan Ali, was before the Court on 19 fraud charges for the entirety of his tenure but was allowed to execute his duties unimpeded.