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The Parliament is Guyana’s highest decision making forum. It should be representing the voice, interests and deliberations of all Guyanese through the Members of Parliament (MP). That the 12th Parliament has been off to a rocky start and continues to slip further down the slippery slope, it will be a miracle if this parliament could ever be useful to the people if the bull is not taken by the horns.
Not only has the Speaker of the National Assembly lost control, tacitly or otherwise, but important committees are either in disarray or not functioning. The Parliament has been reduced to a comedy of errors, inappropriate behaviour by some Members, whittling away at the honour the hallowed chamber was once known for and should be.
A dysfunctional parliament does not help the people and also undermines efforts to achieve good governance. It is through Parliament the government is held in check by the opposition through debates, questions and answers, motions, committees’ oversight and hearings. Parliament serves to protect the checks and balances on the Executive which is necessary in functional democracy.
According to the online Britannica, checks and balances is the “principle of government under which separate branches are empowered to prevent actions by other branches and are induced to share power.” It goes without saying that when Parliament does not function Guyanese are not getting the best out of our political system, the government and opposition. One of the most admired parliamentary performances of the main opposition, A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change, is their insistence that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) function.
The PAC is headed by Opposition MP David Patterson, who is presently before the court on the charge of defrauding the Demerara Harbour Bridge. It is this charge the government’s side of the House has used on February 1, 2021 to move a motion to have Patterson removed from chairing the committee. The PAC is responsible for examining government spending. This year’s Budget is valued at $383.1B. The 2020 Budget was valued at $329.9 B. This is the money Patterson’s committee will ensure spending is above board and this is a lot of money!
On Monday the PAC met but instead of proceeding with the business of the committee government MP Gail Teixeira sought to have the motion retabled to have MP Patterson removed as Committee chairman. Then MP Irfaan Ali, who is presently President, was before the court on charges of defrauding the state but served as Chairman of the PAC. In Guyana’s common law principle, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, though selectively respected, is practiced. It was respected for MP Ali and is fair to expect no less for MP Patterson.
It is not only ironic but hypocritical the effort of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to remove MP Patterson from chairing the PAC. The party cannot claim the moral rectitude of never having a member so accused and before the court when he was PAC chairman. The government is acting as though they don’t want the PAC to function.
Something is not right and it is not Mr. Patterson being chairman of the PAC.
