– former officer appeared after committee was shown photo of him in Guyana
A former accounting officer appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) only after it was shown a photograph of him attending a ceremony in Guyana, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill told the National Assembly on Wednesday.
The committee had previously been told the officer was out of the country.
The case became a point of contention during debate on the PAC’s report on the 2017 and 2018 public accounts. Edghill said former accounting officers could have appeared virtually and that some had been reluctant to account for their stewardship. Opposition MP Ganesh Mahipaul said the committee’s own delays had made it harder to get answers from people called years after leaving their posts.
Deputy Speaker Dr Vishwa Mahadeo said a committee member had reported seeing the officer in Linden and that the officer appeared at the next meeting. He said PAC staff had repeatedly tried to contact former officers. Some might have migrated, while the whereabouts of others could not be established.
“We need to be more firm with the accounting officers and let them know that if they don’t come, that there are penalties,” Mahadeo said.
Mahipaul agreed that former officers had a duty to account for public funds. He said some who had lost their jobs in 2020 were being asked in 2024 to explain spending in 2017 and 2018, without offers of travel or accommodation. Even some who appeared could no longer recall the transactions, he said.
“You’re asking them seven years after to tell us what has happened in 2017 and 2018,” Mahipaul said. He argued that deputies, programme managers and technical staff who had worked with the former officers could also help answer audit queries. He said the committee began examining the two years in 2022 and completed the review in 2025 after 22 sittings devoted to those accounts.
Edghill said the arrangements for virtual participation introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic were available during the review. He said newspaper notices had been placed seeking the officer’s attendance before the photograph was brought to the committee’s attention.
“People could have participated virtually,” Edghill said. “But what we had was a reluctance of specific accounting officers to appear and answer for their stewardship.”
Opposition members shouted “Float the boat” and “Edghill and Indar must go” as the minister spoke, renewing calls to raise the sunken MV Barima and for the removal of Edghill and Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation Deodat Indar.
“No amount of noise by any member of the National Assembly will silence me,” Edghill said as he closed his remarks.
Full payments for unfinished works
The Assembly unanimously adopted the report on a motion moved by PAC Chairman Vishnu Panday. The report will now go to the government for consideration. As was reported yesterday , the committee found that contractors had been paid in full for unfinished works certified as complete and that some overpayments remained outstanding years later.
Mahadeo said contractors had also been paid for changes to projects without approved variation orders. The measurements recorded by ministry engineers differed from those of Audit Office engineers, and the committee found that some projects had been poorly supervised at the ministerial and regional levels.
The report also cited persistent breaches of the Stores Regulations, poorly maintained logbooks, money that was not returned to the Consolidated Fund and failures to reconcile records of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies delivered to the regions. It recommended sanctions or surcharges for accounting officers, engineers and clerks of works who breached financial management requirements. It also called for recovery of outstanding sums and additional technical staff to improve oversight.
MPs differ over ministerial instructions
Mahipaul said accounting officers should refuse any instruction from a minister that would breach financial laws. He recalled an officer telling the committee that he had acted on a minister’s instruction. Mahipaul said he had asked the officer to produce the instruction in writing, while making clear that even a written directive would not excuse unlawful spending.
“The ministers of government are policymakers, and you have to spend the money within the confines of what the law states,” he said. He argued that political interference had occurred under both the APNU+AFC and PPP/C administrations.
Mahipaul commended Finance Secretary Sukrishnalall Pasha, the Accountant General and their staff for following up on audit findings and PAC recommendations. He also said APNU had written to Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh proposing a pay increase of at least 25 per cent for public servants in December, retroactive to January.
Edghill said Mahipaul’s remarks about ministerial instructions reflected what the committee had heard from officers answering for the 2017 and 2018 accounts. He said concerns about the performance of accounting officers during the APNU+AFC administration had led to changes in financial secretaries and regional executive officers.
Both men called for the Finance Minister to set out the government’s response to the recommendations. Mahipaul asked for a Treasury memorandum, while Edghill stressed that the committee had agreed unanimously on the recommendations before sending them to the House.
Teixeira disputes meeting count
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira, who joined the sitting virtually, described the breaches recorded in the two years as “absolute financial lawlessness.” She said some former officers had refused to appear and that ministries and regions had sometimes been called back because they did not have the documents needed to answer questions. Some financial records, bids and contracts were difficult to locate after the change of government, she said.
Teixeira acknowledged that government and opposition members had often taken the same position when questioning officers. She supported adoption of the report and said overpayments to staff and contractors had declined substantially in later audits.
She disputed Panday’s earlier statement that the PAC had met only 26 times in five years, saying the figure did not match parliamentary records and offering to share her statistics. She distinguished that claim from Mahipaul’s count of 22 sittings on the 2017 and 2018 accounts, saying he might be right about the narrower figure.
Teixeira attributed some of the delays in reviewing the 2017 and 2018 accounts to missing records and the need to recall ministries and regional administrations that had appeared without the documents needed to answer audit queries. She said financial records, bids and contracts had been difficult to locate after the change of government. She acknowledged that government and opposition members had often taken the same position when questioning officials and supported the report’s adoption, saying overpayments to staff and contractors had declined substantially in later audits.
In separate business on Wednesday, the Assembly authorised the current PAC to resume work left unfinished by its predecessor. The committee agreed on October 26 to examine the Auditor General’s reports for 2020 through 2024 side by side. Panday and WIN member Nandranie Singh abstained from that vote. The committee is expected to begin examining the 2020 report on Monday, November 16.
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