PAC accuses Majority of disrupting sitting over GHC68bn arrears probe
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has accused the Majority Caucus of disrupting its sitting on Wednesday that was meant to investigate the GHC68 billion government arrears contained in the Auditor-General’s special report.
This development, according to the Committee, is a “serious setback” to Parliament’s oversight work.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Wednesday, PAC Chair Abena Osei Asare revealed that the sitting had to be suspended after members of the were asked to leave the committee and return to the Chamber for “urgent government business” on the floor of the Parliament, arguing that the move had no justification but shows the “misuse of their numbers in Parliament.”
“When Ghanaians give you an opportunity in a very special way, and I say in a very special way, looking at the majority of seats that Ghanaians have given to you – you don’t abuse it. I see this clearly as an abuse of their majority,” she said.
She further questioned the explanation that the recall was necessary because of urgent government business in the chamber, noting that PAC members left the committee room expecting to find serious parliamentary work underway, only to discover that sitting had not yet started.
“We closed from the Public Accounts Committee and then we went to the chamber and sitting hadn’t even begun. We went to the chamber thinking there was urgent government business on the floor of Parliament. Eventually when sitting began, we began with statements. Statements are important, but are they so important that people we have invited from various ministries, departments and agencies, who are waiting for their turn to explain the issues in the audit, should be asked to leave?” she questioned.
The PAC chair argued that the Committee had to eventually suspend sitting as it no longer had the numbers required to proceed with the hearings.
“We had to ask them to leave because we didn’t have the quorum to continue with business, only for us to come to the floor of Parliament and see that one, sitting hadn’t even begun, and two, when sitting began, it was statements and not urgent government business,” she said.
Abena Osei Asare warned that the interruption could affect the committee’s ability to meet its given deadline, adding that the incident had made the original timetable “unrealistic.”
“We have decided to reschedule to next week Monday, when Parliament will be on recess, and then we will start from Monday and end on Thursday. We will also have to write to Mr. Speaker and inform him that the three weeks’ deadline is not feasible based on what has happened today,” she said.
“It is a serious issue and we need to come together to make sure we address some of these things,” she added.
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