The Tribune

By CELESTE NIXON Tribune Staff Reporter cnixon@tribunemedia.net THE Speaker of the House of Assembly "misused" his position for political reasons when he allowed a Public Accounts Committee minority report to be tabled in Parliament, the PLP claimed. Following a break in the parliamentary session yesterday, opposition members held a press conference to condemn the Speaker's decision as a "serious violation of the rules of the House of Assembly." PAC chairman Dr Bernard Nottage said proper procedure was not followed, as the document should have been debated by committee members before being tabled in the House of Assembly. "For political purposes," he said, "they decided to deal with this matter in this way and I think that it is wrong, it is unparliamentary. "What the Speaker did today was in our view a misuse of his position as Speaker of the House of Assembly and he does that regularly. They come into parliament with a pre-fixed position and nothing can keep them from that, and that is wrong. "Just as the government has broken numerous rules - not to mention the terms of international agreements - in its handling of the roadworks, they have broken serious rules in order to table the minority report," said a statement issued by the PLP yesterday. On Monday, the PAC tabled a report in Parliament detailing government's handling of the New Providence Road Improvement Project. At the time, Dr Nottage said the committee spent a considerable time reviewing the NPIIP because of the concerns expressed by the Auditor General in his 2009 report and the strong complaints from thousands of road users. After three months of interviews, he said the committee uncovered evidence of poor co-ordination of utilities, poor quality of work, failure to comply with financial obligations in the contract, traffic mismanagement, cost overruns and political influence. Dr Nottage said he believes the FNM acted in the way it did yesterday, because it was worried about the findings of the report and wanted to mitigate its effects. Fort Charlotte MP Alfred Sears said what was submitted yesterday "under the guise of a minority report", was never put before PAC nor debated as it should have been according to the rules of the House of Assembly. He noted that the report is not even signed by the two minority members of the committee. According to the PLP statement, minority members were at every juncture invited to participate in the committee's meetings, but did not attend six out of the last seven meetings. It said: "They chose not to question the government's witnesses, not to participate in the process." As the only committee that has a majority from the official opposition, the PAC plays a critical oversight role in the democratic process, said Mr Sears. He said what was allowed to happen in parliament yesterday "was an attempt to subvert that process." The PLP statement said the government is seeking "to muddy up the findings of the report, to obscure both incompetence and wrongdoing, to hide the serious questions raised about abuse of power and inside dealing."