Pro-tem PAC Chairman John Saldivar Approves Schedule for Future PAC Meetings
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee held a meeting on Wednesday in Belmopan. Realistically, we should say that the government members of the PAC held a meeting, because Chairman Julius Espat and opposition member Rodwell Ferguson walked out in protest. Still, as they say, the show must go on…and it did. The four government members, led by hastily appointed pro-tem chairman John Saldivar, proposed and approved a schedule and agenda for meetings from this point on. And they do intend to move forward, regardless of opposition from the opposition and concerns from other quarters like the N.T.U.C.B. Still, where the schedule is concerned, there is some confusion. Mike Rudon has that story.
As pro-tem Chairman of the PAC John Saldivar came out of the meeting on Wednesday, he declared how things would be done from now on as regards scrutiny of Auditor-General Reports.
John Saldivar, Pro-tem Chairman
John Saldivar
“We have proposed on Mondays which will start with the 23rd of September which we will start with the old ones and on Wednesday which is the 25th of September to deal with the ones which cover this current administration.”
That seems clear enough. But late Wednesday evening the National Assembly issued a schedule of events for those meetings. And that was a horse of a totally different color. As you see here, there is scrutiny of current Auditor-General scheduled anytime soon. In fact, the PAC won’t even be looking at reports for the year 2008 until May, 2014. Now that wasn’t what we were told, so we asked Saldivar about it today.
John Saldivar
“The schedule that we have put forward will see us start dealing with the pre 2008 reports on Mondays and on Wednesday we start dealing with the 08 moving forward so I don’t see any discrepancy there. The Mondays are for pre 08 and the Wednesdays are for post 08”
And with that cleared up another obvious question looms – does it make any sense to have four members of the Cabinet scrutinizing, analyzing and providing oversight on how the Cabinet spends public funds?
John Saldivar
“It has to make sense in the sense that it is done in a public and transparent any so if there is any accusation of the government trying to slide over issues it will be out in the public domain, these hearing will be conducting publicly as you know so you will be there to judge. I will have to take that under advisement but I do not think that anything will come up that will require me not to sit on the committee.”
And as to that pesky little criticism that the current PAC should be dealing with current financial matters as opposed to old matters?
John Saldivar
“The Chairman has been trying to make the case that his mandate is only to deal with current reports that have been tabled. Even the 2010-2011 if we were to take his argument is no longer on the table because that has passed over two years now. So that is not an argument, I can point you to areas in the standing orders that says that the committee can deliberate on any matter even if not laid before it by the House of Representatives. If the current PAC feels that something needs to be aired out, if something needs to be deliberated we have the prerogative to do so by standing orders.”
The NTUCB, which openly supports the restructuring of the PAC, has yet to speak on these latest events in PAC-land. Mike Rudon for News Five.
no wonder they cannot get anything done, the four biggest duma$$ in govt are on the committee.
LOL! @ cayobway…u got dat right!!…all of them has to do exactly wat daddy Dean tells them to do…they are just a bunch of puppets on a string…yes sah, yes masta…these ministers just agree to every single thing the PM says just because its their party in power and they have the majority…they dont even think twice about what or how the consequences of their hasty decisions will impact Belizeans..especially the poor…
A PAC committee was form to analyze the budget for the ten years PUP was in office. The Chairman of that committee was from the UDP party. They did their job and now a PUP chairman is suppose to chair the meetings under the TRANSPARENT UDP government. However the member of the committee feel that for ten years that they chaired the meetings they did a terrible job, and of course it was no fault of the then PUP government. However the current chairman want to do his job, but this bunch of UDP TRANSPARENT ministers want the current chairman to go back into the past, that way, by the time the last ten years is finish, it will be election time again, and the current UDP members will be able to continue rape the country without no accountability. THAT IS TRANSPARENCY FOR YOU! LOL To make matters worse we have a pro-tem chairman in the name of John who have more say than the current chairman. His word is law in a committee where the Prime Minister said they have to follow procedures to make changes, but for John to become pro_tem chairman, NO PROCEDURE WAS NECESSARY!
PM, how can a Pro_ tem chairman have more powers than the current Chairman himself, just by a few people selecting him out of the blue, and why should the people of Belize be paying again to have a work reviewed which you guys did over a ten years period. Since when did John became a PUP since the regulation said this committee should be chaired by someone from the opposition party? When did you guys revised and change the regulations to suit your ill will?
Lol ! cayobway these guys are not so dumb when it come to $$$, just ask the brothers in the new capital who they visit regularly, and who are also creaming off the crop! Even during working hours, one would think these boys have no work to do, as they can be seen hanging out for hours! lol… It’s not a joke! Check them out…