We never intended to stifle PAC – Premier

Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley said his government never meant to hinder the operation of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), despite moving ahead with its formation several months after his government took office.

Premier Wheatley made the remarks as he bemoaned the absence of opposition members in the House of Assembly (HOA) recently, when the government formed the PAC — one of the most important committees to be formed in the legislature.

Opposition members walked out of the HOA earlier in the House sitting last Tuesday to protest the government’s repeated decision to relegate the Opposition’s scheduled questions to the end of the HOA’s order paper.

Premier Wheatley, in the meantime, maintained that he always intended to form the PAC once the issue of who could be on the committee was resolved. It is a matter he argued that remains under active consideration despite the opposition’s claims that the rules governing the formation of the PAC and its exclusion of government ministers were explicit.

All of the government’s members have either been appointed as ministers or junior ministers in various ministries and the opposition has held that this precludes them from becoming members of the PAC, based on the HOA’s rules.

“It was never our intention to stifle the work of the Public Accounts Committee and here we are,” Premier Wheatley said. “We’ll have to pass it on our own and without the help of opposition members present. But that doesn’t matter because we have a responsibility to ensure that we maintain good governance, accountability [and] transparency.”

In their absence, Premier Wheatley announced the appointment of Opposition Leader Ronnie Skelton as Chairman, in addition to opposition members Stacey Mather, Julian Fraser, Marlon Penn, Myron Walwyn and Melvin Turnbull as the other members to the PAC.

Premier Wheatley added: “We look forward to the Public Accounts Committee doing their work without bias, without mischief-making, but doing it with integrity, and always keeping in mind the best interests of the people of the Virgin Islands.”