Upp Wants – By Kisean Joseph
Upp Wants Public Accounts
The opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) is calling for a fundamental restructuring of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), arguing the current composition makes it impossible for the body to function as a genuine check on government spending.
UPP Senator Jonathan Wehner made the case during an appearance on Observer Radio on Friday, contending that having a government majority on a committee designed to scrutinise government finances is a contradiction that undermines good governance.
“You cannot give me an exam to test me on how I use my finances. I take the exam, give it back to you, and then you give it back to me to mark. That doesn’t make sense,” Senator Wehner said. “This is not how we run countries, and it is time for our democracy to evolve.”
As it stands, the PAC comprises five members, three of whom are government MPs, a composition the UPP and its sister party, the Barbuda People’s Movement, say must change following the April 30th general election.
The two opposition parties are jointly proposing that the committee be reduced to three members, with only one government MP permitted, and explicitly stipulating that the government’s representative must not be a sitting cabinet minister.
Senator Wehner argued that the principle was straightforward: a cabinet minister cannot ethically sit on a body tasked with overseeing how that same minister manages public resources.
“How am I as a Cabinet minister going to have a body that oversees my management of the taxpayers’ money, public resources, and I sit on that body that oversees how I manage taxpayers’ resources? That makes no ethical sense. That makes no sense for good governance. We speak about these things, but we don’t actually implement them.”
Under the opposition’s proposal, the restructured committee would comprise Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle, MP for Barbuda Trevor Walker, whose inclusion is constitutionally required, and Deputy Speaker Dr. Philmore Benjamin as the lone government representative.
Senator Wehner said Dr Benjamin’s position as Deputy Speaker, which precludes him from serving in Cabinet, makes him the only suitable candidate currently on the government bench.
“It should be the Honourable Jamale Pringle, the Honourable Trevor Walker, and the Honourable Dr. Philmore Benjamin. Those should be the three members on the PAC,” Senator Wehner said. “Let’s move with the times. We ought to be a progressive nation.”
Senator Wehner also flagged the need for two new parliamentary oversight committees: a Public Health and Social Transformation Committee and a Public Works and National Housing Committee, saying both were necessary to properly scrutinise the functions of those ministries. He indicated that the opposition would advance those proposals in the coming weeks.