Teixeira warns another motion to remove PAC Chair could be looming

…as Govt, Opposition sides trade barbs on motion to increase sittings

Accusing the Opposition of continuously violating the standing orders of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Governance and Public Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira has warned that another motion to oust the Chair of the Committee could be looming.
The Chairman of the PAC is A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Parliamentarian Jermaine Figueira, who only took over in July after the previous Chairman, David Patterson, was removed. According to Teixeira, however, Figueira seems to be following in the footsteps of his predecessor.
“A decision was made on October 11 in the Committee, without any discussion or any attempt to reach consensus on having meetings twice weekly… they attempted this before and they knew the Government was not in support, neither the constitutional body heads. I brought a motion to rescind the motion of October 11, in keeping with the standing orders. And although hotly debated in the beginning, Figueira did agree he needed more time to review it.”
According to Teixeira, Figueira agreed that the motion would come back at the next statutory meeting of October 25. This was agreed to, after which the PAC continued dealing with the 2016 Auditor General Report.
“Regrettably, when we came near to the end, Mr Figueira shut off the live stream, told the media to leave and proceeded to adjourn until Friday, October 22. Despite him being reminded he had made a commitment to October 25, the statutory meeting on Monday. He proceeded to walk out the meeting.”
“This is reminiscent of what we went through in the PAC with Patterson as the Chair. Once again, APNU/AFC cannot be trusted with anything, even a simple motion to rescind a decision… so we will now start down a road that is familiar and if this behaviour continues, we have no qualms of going to the House once again to remove the Chairman of the PAC.”
However, PAC Member and APNU/AFC Parliamentarian Ganesh Mahipaul released a statement in which he was adamant that Figueira was not bound to hold the next meeting on October 25, like he had agreed. He also argued that the twice weekly meetings are necessary considering the PAC’s backlog.
“At the close of the day’s business the Chairman adjourned the meeting to Friday, October 22, 2021, in keeping with the resolution of the Committee. For clarity, it must be understood that not because the Committee accepted unanimously to allow the Chairman the time he requested to address Ms Teixeira’s motion, it means that the resolution can be breached,” Mahipaul said in his statement.
Teixeira had previously tabled a motion of no-confidence against Patterson at a Committee meeting in February this year but his Opposition colleagues refused to take up his seat, arguing steadfastly for Patterson to be retained. Then at subsequent meetings, Patterson failed to put the issue on the agenda.
This resulted in Teixeira tabling the No-Confidence Motion against Patterson in the National Assembly in June. After a marathon session that featured lengthy and heated debates that ran into the wee hours of June 15, the motion was passed by a 34 to 31 majority in the National Assembly.