Officers appearing before public accounts committee ill prepared

Dear Editor,

It is a matter of deep concern that officials in positions and who assume office at the change of government, when before the parliamentary oversight body on government spending  are unable to answer questions and provide explanations and clarity to queries.  Their standard response it seems is reposed in the position that they were not in the position or the officer in charge at the time of the questionable transaction.  This is ludicrous and flawed and cannot be allowed to be the acceptable norm of response from incumbents.  Once the position has been offered and appointment formalized the responsibility to find out and know all dimensions of previous transactions and which to account is an expectation becomes even more important and crucial.

From reports it seems proper handover/takeover procedures are not in place or observed since the haste to get rid of previous holders precludes these basic administrative observations.  And so current incumbents are hauled before the committee ill prepared, clumsily trying to give plausible explanations to what they do not know of, while those who know and can provide answers are long gone. Can it get any more bizarre than this?

Yours faithfully,

Shamshun Mohamed