AuGD reports tabled

AFTER HOLDING two reports from the Auditor General’s Department (AuGD) for more than two months, Speaker of the House of Representatives Juliet Holness yesterday yielded to unrelenting calls from members of civil society and the parliamentary opposition for the reports to be laid on the table of the legislature.

However, the Speaker said she continues to hold the view that “in law there continues to be a dissonance in the interpretation of how the reports on public bodies should be tabled”.

“There is nothing to hide but it is the Speaker’s discretion to make a ruling having taken into consideration all the opinions received which was done. I remain of the view that the reports are not properly being tabled.”

She indicated that her November ruling on the tabling of reports from the AuGD has not changed but she has taken note of the various legal perspectives on the issue.

The Speaker said she would be seeking to hold talks with the auditor general (AG) later this week in an attempt to resolve the issue.

But Opposition Leader Mark Golding said the position that the Speaker has put the Parliament and herself in is untenable, noting that she has had to resile from that position by tabling the reports.

He has not ruled out going to the courts to get a ruling on the controversial tabling of reports from the AuGD.

While agreeing with the decision by the Speaker to table the reports, Golding said that such a move is inconsistent with her own ruling last year as to the process that must be followed.

“I think she should have withdrawn that ruling because that ruling is obviously in tatters because she is acting inconsistent with her own ruling because of the pressure that has come upon her.”

The parliamentary opposition said they want to be a part of the discussion with the AG.

Julian Robinson, member of parliament for St Andrew South East, chairs the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The PAC has the mandate to, among other things, examine audit reports from the AG that have been tabled in Parliament.

At the same time, the Speaker yesterday remained firm in her decision not to share the attorney general’s opinion with her parliamentary colleagues.

Last year, former Speaker of the House Marisa Dalrymple Philibert had requested an opinion from the Attorney General’s Department on the tabling of reports from the AG and the Integrity Commission.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com