PAC has no authority to rescind Audit Office appointments – Teixeira

Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira said the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has no authority to rescind the appointment of the finance minister’s wife to the post of director of the Audit Office. But that statement does not sit well with PAC Chairman Carl Greenidge who, at a meeting of the committee held on Monday, said the situation must be examined in greater detail, noting that the issue of rescinding the appointment of Gitanjali Singh, wife of Dr Ashni Singh has not been discussed thus far.

Teixeira said, “This committee has no capacity to take away anybody’s appointment; the law says about ratifying, the rules talk about ratifying. Once the person has an appointment that is no business of the Public Accounts Committee, that is a matter for the court and or the employer/employee. That is out of our hands completely.”
According to her, no motion has been brought by the opposition for the reversal of the appointment.  The opposition has said that Singh’s appointment constitutes a conflict of interest, and it will move to have that appointment reversed.
Greenidge has argued that the PAC is currently reviewing the qualifications of Singh and some 10 other appointees. He said the process has not yet examined the reversal of the appointment. He believes, however, since the PAC could appoint, it could change the appointment.
“If it is authorised to appoint, it can modify its decision. Any House or its committee can recommit decisions, I don’t know that there’s a special rule for the Public Accounts Committee which says it can’t revisit a decision,” the PAC chairman said.
Greenidge added the committee is also examining the application of the standing orders. The opposition has argued that the standing orders must be revisited in a bid to understand why he was denied the right to vote on the matter. Government cited a standing order that said the chairman could not vote on the issue, but the opposition believes that the decision was only applicable to the select committees and not the standing committees.
“Just as there are parts of the standing orders that say the chairman can vote, there are parts of the standing orders that say the chairman can’t vote.”  Greenidge noted that more attention must be placed on the existing standing orders.
“It is not sufficient to look at two paragraphs in the standing orders and pronounce on something. They are fairly complicated, you have to look at them in their entirety and as the other side is arguing, you need also to look at the context in which some of them were drafted or when they were amended.”
Government has maintained that the decision to appoint the finance minister’s wife is not a conflict of interest. The opposition said government took advantage of the absence of one opposition member of parliament to push Singh’s appointment as audit director in the Auditor General’s Office. Government argued too that since 2010 the auditor general had wanted to hire senior staffers and approached the PAC. At that time, it was indicated that 13 persons were needed.
Mrs Singh, government added, had been acting in that position for several years and there has been no evidence of her work being compromised.  The PAC comprises four People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) members respectively and the one Alliance For Change (AFC) member.