Government is not stopping Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) from functioning.
And it is not borrowing money in secret, says Minister of Energy and Business Senator Lisa Cummins.
She was responding to calls from Opposition Senator Andre Worrell for the PAC, which is chaired by the Leader of the Opposition, to be allowed to do its work and for more information on Government’s borrowings to be made available so that all loans could be scrutinised.
This took place during debate on the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean Bill 2025, which was passed by the Senate on Wednesday.
Cummins, Leader of Public Business in the Senate, said: “I sit on the Public Accounts Committee. Yes, the Leader of the Opposition is the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, but as with every committee, you have a consensus of the whole.
On agenda
“The Government of Barbados is not attempting to stifle consideration of new items.
“The fact of the matter is, the Leader of the Opposition does not wish to debate the items that are already on the Public Accounts Committee’s agenda, he wants to debate matters that are not . . . on the Public Accounts Committee’s agenda.
“There is a report that is to come to the Public Accounts Committee. It has not been laid by the Public Accounts Committee or by the Parliament of Barbados, but the Leader of the Opposition refuses to have the Public Accounts Committee meet for over a year now to discuss the legitimate issues that have been on the Parliament’s agenda for some time now, because he wants to have the country believe that a matter not before the Parliament is being refused by the Government of Barbados,” she charged.
Cummins said the PAC could “meet to debate and to finish the matters that were on the agenda”.
“I even took the time . . . to agree that I would be willing to join a small group to go over the findings of the previous PAC, to be able to summarise
what the outcomes were to be able to have them put before the committee in a formal way so that we can move forward. The meetings have not been convened since then.”
HOPE audit
The minister added: “The Leader of the Opposition would wish for us to discuss the Special Audit of HOPE [Home Ownership Providing Energy Inc.] that has not to this date, to the best of my knowledge, been laid before the Parliament of Barbados.
“Until such time as that report by the Auditor General’s Office is laid in Parliament, there is nothing before the Public Accounts Committee to discuss.
“So, it is erroneous to attempt to suggest to the public of Barbados that the Public Accounts Committee has a matter before us that the Government is refusing to allow the Opposition to discuss. It is not true.”
‘A ruse’
Cummins also said information on Government’s loans was available at Parliament.
“The call for transparency and information on all of the loans that the Government has taken out over time is also a ruse.
Cummins said every loan or financing arrangement entered into has been laid in Parliament.
“Every single loan is read into the record of Parliament and laid in Parliament, and the explanation of what it is for given. It is not accurate to suggest that there is any lack of information on loans laid by [or] presented by this Government.
“And if we want access to information, all we have to do is, rather than continue to call for information that is readily available, is to use what is already there.” ( SC)
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