You’ve probably never heard of the Public Accounts Committee of The House of Representatives – or if you have – it was probably in the elimination round of some social studies trivia quiz. And that’s because the Public Accounts Committee – has been largely inactive for about...the last 15 years or so.
The committee – which is the only one chaired by the Opposition hasn’t produced a report since the early 90’s. And that’s because while it is chaired by the opposition and is designed to be used as a parliamentary big stick to keep the executive in check – the committee depends on reports from the Auditor General– and until recently those had been scarce.
But now, the new Auditor General has prepared 7 reports – for each fiscal year dating back to 2003 up to the March of 2008 – the audited figures in those cases are expected to differ greatly from the figures officially presented in the Budget speech for those years. The Auditor General has also prepared special audits of the Soybean Project – in which government lost $3.4 million and the Venezuela housing grant program – which was fraught with irregularities.
The committee which is chaired by deputy PUP leader Mark Espat expects to meet once every two weeks to review all these audit reports. It also has membership from the Leader of the Opposition and The UDP Area Representatives from Belmopan, Stann Creek West, Dangriga and Orange Walk East.
