Public Accounts Committee to meet on Wednesday under new Chairmanship

Under the new Chairmanship of Opposition Parliamentarian, Jermaine Figueira, the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will meet on Wednesday at 10:00hrs at the Public Buildings.

The first order of business will be to correct and confirm the minutes of a meeting held on March 15, 2021. The committee did not meet for several months as the government parliamentarians on the committee had objected to the chairmanship of David Patterson.

Patterson was removed as Chairman at a 5:30am vote in the National Assembly on June 15, 2021. Wednesday’s meeting will see the PAC considering the proposed nominees recommended for appointment to the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).

Back in April and despite contentions over its chairmanship, PAC had moved to seek nominees in order to reconstitute the PPC. Once that is complete, the PAC will look to continue considering the committee joining the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

With the work of the PAC far behind schedule, the committee’s meetings in the coming weeks will have to address the backlog. The work of the PAC was stalled after the government MPs has raised objections to Patterson’s chairmanship.

It came after the Auditor General’s report and further internal probe at several agencies implicated him in wrongdoings during the period he was Minister of Public Infrastructure.

Patterson was initially asked to resign and make way for another opposition MP to Chair the PAC.