Speaker summons PAC Chairman and Governance Minister to meeting over PAC issues

The Speaker's request follows a decision of a number of Clerks of Committees in the National Assembly to refuse to work with the Public Accounts Committee over the stress level in the meetings of the PAC.

Speaker summons PAC Chairman and Governance Minister to meeting over PAC  issues

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir has summoned the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Opposition Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira and Government PAC Member, Minister of Governance Gail Teixeira to a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the meetings of the PAC.

The Speaker’s request follows a decision of a number of Clerks of Committees in the National Assembly to refuse to work with the Public Accounts Committee over the stress level in the meetings of the PAC.

The Clerk who was tasked with working with the Public Accounts Committee recently complained of ill-health and blamed that on the high-stress level associated with working in the Public Accounts Committee.

The Clerk reportedly also complained about the way a Government member of the committee speaks to parliamentary staff, accusing the member of shouting at and bullying staff members.

The PAC was unable to meet on Friday and today because of the absence of a Clerk of Committee.

News Source understands that a new Clerk has since been identified to begin working with the Committee, but the Speaker has decided to meet with the Chairman and senior Government member of the Committee before the next PAC meeting.

The Public Accounts Committee is responsible for scrutinizing government spending. It has been faced with a backlog in its work. A recent move by the Opposition to have the committee meet twice per week in an effort to clear the backlog is not enjoying the support of the government, which wants the Committee to meet once per week.

The opposition side believes that by meeting once per week, the Committee will not be able to move its work forward and catch up with spending over the past year.

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