Public Accounts Committee meetings to be held in public

Meetings of the Public Accounts Committee could soon be held in the public domain, according to its chairman Hector John, the parliamentary opposition leader.

He says the decision is in keeping with the norm and practice of several other jurisdictions in the region.

John says the committee, which comprises members of both sides of parliament, held a meeting on Wednesday, where several critical matters were dealt with.

He says he wants the meetings of the Public Accounts Committee to be transparent.

“We want the public to come and hear the deliberations, not to participate but to listen in. This is seen all over the world. We were told that this is the practice in several of the jurisdictions. This decision was taken and this is what we will do,” he said.

This week’s meeting gave committee members an opportunity to look at their role “to execute our mandate in the best possible way to ensure that we do things within the constitution”. John stated

“We were privileged to have the director of audit at our first meeting. What we are doing is preparing ourselves to look at the reports available, look at the accounts and look at some of the critical areas so we can have a report on that as soon as it is possible,” the committee chairman said.

He has indicated that the committee will also look at how tax payers’ money’s spent.

“We will look at did we get value for money. Our role is very critical and we want to execute it to the best of our abilities,” the opposition leader said.