Published 7 August 2017
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News
PM Harris accuses Mark Brantley of presiding over “a non functioning Public Accounts Committee”
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, AUGUST 7TH 2017 – Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris, has slammed his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Mark Brantley, for presiding over a “non-functioning Public Accounts Committee” when he was its chairman for nearly 8 years (2007 to 2015).
The irony is that Prime Minister Harris and his Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Shawn Richards, were also members of the last Public Accounts Committee from 2010 to 2015.
During last Wednesday’s Press Conference, Dr. Harris said: “There was in fact something called a Public Accounts Committee, but it never functioned. It never functioned.”
“There was not one single report ever made to the Parliament,” said Dr. Harris who accused then PAC chairman and now his Foreign Minister, of not sending “even a half of a sentence ever presented on a letterhead in relation to this entity called the PAC. This was like having a football team that never played a match.”
Mr. Brantley, in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition and the PAC chairman, along with Dr. Harris and Mr. Richards were members of the Committee appointed in 2010 by then Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas. Other members were Hon. Patrice Nisbett and Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty.
The record shows that Mr. Brantley was appointed Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee since 2007 when he first assumed the role of Leader of the Opposition after the by-election to fill the Nevis seat vacated following the demise of the Hon. Malcolm Guishard.
“Mark Brantley was on Wednesday October 24, 2007 sworn in as the newest member of the St. Kitts-Nevis National Assembly. Brantley won the August 20 by-election to fill the Nevis 9 seat left vacant by the sudden death of Malcolm Guishard.
Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Denzil Douglas moved a resolution at Wednesday’s sitting appointing Brantley to the Public Accounts Committee and appointed him the committee’s chairman,” the St. Kitts-Nevis Observer newspaper reported.
Following the 2010 general elections, Mr. Brantley was reappointed chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.
On April 12th 2010, WINNFM reported Mr. Brantley as stating that the Public Accounts Committee will ensure that the government’s expenditures are appropriate and all expenditure is being done in a proper and appropriate manner.
“This public accounts committee is a critically important committee for purposes of maintaining a check on the government and its use of public funds to ensure that funds are allocated appropriately and to the purpose to which they should be allocated.” Mr. Brantley told WINN FM.
“According to him, the public accounts committee has the authority to ask questions about government expenditure and to even call for civil servants to stand before it to shed light on any spending.
When asked if the public accounts committee had the authority to request access to any government accounts, Mr. Brantley replied: “that is my understanding. That once sums have been expended by the government, then the public accounts committee can seek to ascertain how those sums are being spent, whether they were budget for, how they were allocated, and indeed whether or not the purpose for which they were allocated is being met in practice. So, it’s a wide mandate and it clearly is something that has to be used judiciously, but nonetheless used to ensure transparency in government expenditure.”
WINNFM said: “This week the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dr. Denzil Douglas announced the appointment of a Public Accounts Committee: as is traditional, Mr. Brantley as Opposition Leader serves as Chair. The other members are Dr. Timothy Harris, Labour MP for St. Christopher 7; Mr. Patrice Nisbett of the NRP, MP for Nevis 11; Mr. Shawn Richards, PAM, MP for St. Christopher 5, and Senator Nigel Carty of the Labour Party.”
“In recent years the Public Accounts Committee has been largely dormant, though it did stir briefly following the 2005 closure of the sugar industry when MP Shawn Richards called on the body to look into the distribution of severance payments to the SSMC’s former workers. Due to the sudden death of its Chairman, the then Opposition Leader Mr. Malcolm Guishard the inquiry never got underway. Mr. Brantley told WINN that he would have to meet with the members of the new committee before making any public statements about any initiatives, if any, that it might take on in the coming term.”
It is the practice that the Leader of the Opposition serves as the Chairman of this Standing Committee of the National Assembly.
The duties and powers of the Public Accounts Committee, drawn from both sides of the lawmaking body are to ascertain that the authorised expenditure during each financial year including supplementary expenditure has been applied to the purposes prescribed by the National Assembly; scrutinise the causes which may have led to any excess over authorised expenditure and to verify applications of savings on other authorised items of expenditure; make an effective examination of public accounts kept in any Department of Government and summon any public officer to give any information or any explanation or to produce any records or documents which the Committee considers necessary in the performance of its duties.
Photo 1 – Hon. Mark Brantley
Photo 2 – Dr. Timothy Harris
