The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has again been unable to meet after government members failed to confirm their attendance, prompting Chairman Vishnu Panday to accuse the government of frustrating the work of Parliament’s principal financial oversight body.
Panday last evening told Kiskadee Watch that no positive response had been received from the government side regarding a meeting scheduled for yesterday and the sitting has now been postponed until Monday.
“It is unacceptable that the members from the government side did not see it fit to give the public satisfaction that work is going on with the PAC, and this is a major cause of concern for me,” Panday said.
The chairman said he views the continued failure to convene meetings as “yet another attempt to delay or frustrate the function of the Public Accounts Committee.”
“At this stage, I am convinced that there is definitely no concern for the work of the committee or a strategy to delay the progress of the Public Accounts Committee function,” he added.
Panday expressed concern that the committee remains six years behind in its examination of the Auditor General’s reports.
“The backlog of work is now six years behind. This is unacceptable,” he said.
He disclosed that notices have been issued for another meeting on Monday but warned that if government members again fail to attend, the opposition will consider its next move.
“If the results are the same, then we will have a meeting with our party leadership to determine the way forward,” he said.
The latest setback follows repeated complaints by the opposition that the committee has been unable to carry out its constitutional mandate because government members have not been attending meetings.
On Monday, the Office of Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed accused the government of continuing to frustrate the work of the PAC, saying a fifth attempt to convene the committee was in jeopardy after government members failed to confirm their attendance.
The opposition said it had been informed that Panday was awaiting responses from the government members and noted that four previous attempts to convene the committee had failed because government representatives were unavailable.
“The Guyanese people deserve an explanation as to why the Government continues to frustrate the work of the very committee constitutionally mandated to scrutinise public spending,” the Office of the Opposition Leader said.
The office noted that the PAC is responsible for examining the Auditor General’s reports and ensuring that public funds are spent in accordance with parliamentary approval.
Although the committee was constituted after a nine-month delay following last September’s general elections, it has yet to resume substantive work. According to the opposition, only the Auditor General’s reports up to 2018 have been examined, leaving reports covering 2019 to 2024 awaiting parliamentary scrutiny.
Panday had previously said invitations were first issued on June 15 for a meeting on June 22, but the sitting was cancelled after government members advised they could not attend. Meetings subsequently scheduled for June 23, June 24 and June 26 also failed to proceed for the same reason.
Opposition APNU Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul, who also serves on the committee, has said Panday complied with the Standing Orders by issuing notices more than three working days in advance and circulating the agenda.
Mahipaul said opposition members were initially informed that the June 22 meeting would have achieved a quorum but were later advised that government members had withdrawn, preventing the meeting from proceeding.
The PAC comprises five government and four opposition members. Under the Standing Orders, however, at least two government members must be present for a quorum.
Mahipaul has also linked the impasse to amendments made to the Standing Orders in 2021, arguing that they effectively gave the government control over when the committee can meet.
During the previous Parliament, opposition members similarly complained that PAC meetings were frequently cancelled because a quorum could not be achieved. According to Panday, committee records show that between 2021 and 2025, 51 meetings were scheduled, but only 26 were held while 25 were cancelled, mainly because government members were unavailable.
Government Chief Whip and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Gail Teixeira has not publicly responded to the opposition’s allegations. Questions sent by Kiskadee Watch to her office remain unanswered.
The other PPP/C members of the committee are Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill, Deputy Speaker Vishwa Mahadeo, Sanjeev Datadin and Suresh Singh.
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