With a clerk now identified to provide services, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is to resume its work on Monday but a meeting called for yesterday by the Speaker of Parliament, Manzoor Nadir to resolve related matters had to be postponed because of the unavailability of Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira.
Nadir requested the meeting to resolve several issues, including clashes over the Committee’s decision to meet twice per week. However, Teixeira, who is also the Government’s Chief Whip, was not available, according to PAC chair, Jermaine Figueira.
“The Honourable Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, who sits on 90% of Committees of Parliament, has to accept that she is not omniscient nor omnipresent and meetings of the respective committees can actually go on quite well without her presence. This need to dominate and bully is disgusting and doesn’t augur well for a democratic and developing society,” Figueira told the Stabroek News.
