The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard says the opposition intends to seek intervention from House Speaker Patricia Deveaux in light of recent actions made by Attorney General Ryan Pinder with respect to the work of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Mr Pintard, who is also the PAC’s chairman, said a letter requesting the same will be sent to Speaker Deveaux today. He said the move was just one of several actions the opposition intends to take this week to ensure that PAC continues its work without interference from other parties.

 “Clearly, the Attorney General, ie the executive, the Prime Minister and Attorney General, has sought to usurp the authority of the Speaker,” Mr Pintard said in an interview with The Tribune yesterday.

“The legislative branch is independent of executive control and therefore, the Prime Minister through his Attorney General does not have the authority to set parameters for the PAC.”

He added: “That is not within the remit of the executive branch of government and so the Speaker has to intervene and step up and not permit the Speaker, their chair, from being bullied or directed from the executive.

“So, this is an important moment, we believe in our democracy to ensure that there is an independence of the legislature from the executive and so we intend to formally ask the Speaker to opine on this issue and whether or not she has departed from the ruling which now governs how information is shared.”

  Last week, Mr Pintard expressed the opposition’s outrage over Attorney General Ryan Pinder’s attempt to “handcuff” and “muzzle” the PAC after Permanent Secretary Luther Smith did not appear before the committee on Tuesday.

The party leader said Mr Smith’s non-appearance was on the instructions of Mr Pinder, who has since argued that the scope of the committee’s request went beyond the powers granted to them by the House of Assembly’s rules.

 It is for this reason, Senator Pinder said it was denied.

 Responding yesterday, Mr Pintard said the Attorney General was “flat out wrong” in his assessment and accused him of exceeding his authority.

 He also agreed with recent comments made by former House Speaker Halson Moultrie, who told The Tribune last week that Mr Pinder was incorrect in his position on the limits of who the PAC can summon and what it can investigate.

 In 2021, Mr Moultrie overturned a controversial ruling that his predecessor had made that restricted the powers of the PAC.

 Mr Moultrie explained that the PAC has “unfettered” investigatory powers and said Mr Pinder was “overreaching.”

 “We are aware, fully aware that the Attorney General is wrong and is attempting to subvert the work of the PAC and frustrate it,” Mr Pintard added. “We will continue to press the Prime Minister, because we would have to assume that the Attorney General, given how this government works, is operating on the instruction of the Prime Minister.

 “And so, we will continue this week to press the Prime Minister, both through the media and when we go in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, to repudiate what is being done and said by the Attorney General.”

 Additionally, Mr Pintard said the PAC intends to follow up on its letters written to various ministries and departments requesting copies of contracts entered into or on behalf of the ministries since September 21, 2021.

 He said the committee just wants to know how funds approved by Parliament are being spent and noted that it was within their remit to ask questions related to that.

“You would recall,” Mr Pintard added, “that we wrote permanent secretaries asking them not only to provide the listing of contracts under their ministry but we wanted them to do it for these same items—boards, authorities and corporations — but just for the sake of completeness, if one or more of the permanent secretaries when they do answer, if they are claiming that, that they do not have statutory responsibility for, we want for completeness to ask the head of those bodies, as well.

 “And so, I’ve instructed the secretary to the PAC to write those persons and I expect that those letters would have all gone out from last week.”

 The PAC’s main function is to scrutinise government spending. It is the only parliamentary select committee on which the official opposition holds a majority and can thus seek to set the agenda.

 Committee members include East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson, Central Grand Bahama MP Iram Lewis, South Beach MP Bacchus Rolle and Wayde Watson, who is the MP for Bains and Grants Town.

 Mr Pintard said Mr Rolle and Mr Watson —both government MPs — have been a “no show” at the meetings up to this point.

 Nonetheless, the opposition leader added: “This is going to be for us a busy week, working with the secretary to the PAC and ensuring that we are continuing to work. We are going to be active every week following through on these matters.”