Staff Writer
With no timeframe set to create a Public Accounts Committee, some criticism has occurred that when installed, the Opposition may be ‘witch hunting’ with the parliamentary body.
However, Dr. Denzil Douglas, the leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister, has rubbished those claims by assuring that members on his side of the Assembly do not have any such notion to witch hunt. He told The Observer that constitutional responsibilities of a Public Accounts Committee are very clear as to duty and responsibility.
He added that such a committee simply assures good governance and good accountable practices of government that is held in check in the National Assembly.
The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour/National Reformation Party wants the government to have the committee established for the past 17 months and claims their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Vincent Byron Jr. responded to a question on establishing the committee earlier this year at a press conference by the Prime Minister. He said that responsibility lies with the Speaker of the House, not with the government benches. This the Opposition MP’s are not accepting. They have pointed to precedents where after elections were held, such a committee was formed and undertook House business, including following the 2010 general elections.
Dr. Douglas and his colleagues have questioned whether the government has something to hide. They insist that if the Team Unity Administration seriously desires accountability and good government that they would have put the committee in place.
A Public Accounts Committee is a constitutional body that has oversight of government spending to make certain it is done in a transparent and accountable way. In St. Kitts and Nevis, the body is headed by the Opposition leader and two others from that party while two members from the government’s benches sit n the committee.
The Labour Party leader said the parliamentary opposition is hamstrung without such a committee, pointing out the Opposition bench in the National Assembly is hardly aboe to perform its constitutional responsibilities in a serious. He also said several projects would be subject to investigation, including claims made by the Federation’s political leader in ParliamenT.
One example Dr. Douglas gave The Observer was a statement made in Parliament by the Prime Minister that he spent over $1 million on his private home. He challenged the remark, wondering why anybody in government, especially a Minister, would give orders that his private home be significantly improved so expensively.
