The opposition United Progressive Party is demanding a fundamental restructuring of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, arguing that having a government majority on a body designed to scrutinise government spending is a structural contradiction that makes genuine accountability impossible.
UPP Senator Jonathan Wehner made the case that the current composition of the PAC undermines good governance at its most basic level.
"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."
The Problem with the Current Composition
As it currently 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.
Senator Wehner was equally direct about the ethical problem of cabinet ministers sitting on a committee tasked with overseeing their own financial management.
"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," he said.
The Opposition's Proposal
The two opposition parties are jointly proposing that the PAC 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.
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," Wehner said. "Let's move with the times. We ought to be a progressive nation."
Two New Oversight Committees Also Proposed
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.
The call for PAC reform comes as the newly re-elected government constitutes its parliamentary committees in the wake of the April 30th general election. Whether the ALP administration will engage with the opposition's proposals remains to be seen, but the UPP has made clear that the fight for meaningful parliamentary oversight will be one of its defining missions in the new term.
