PAC clash erupts over audit backlog, spending and Auditor General’s extension

(Kaieteur News) – Tensions boiled over on Friday as Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members clashed over how to clear a multi-year audit backlog, scrutinise delayed capital projects and address the controversial extension of Auditor General Deodat Sharma beyond the normal retirement age.

PAC Chairman Vishnu Panday (APNU) and Opposition MP Ganesh Mahipaul both questioned a proposal to consolidate several outstanding annual reports into fewer hearings, while raising concerns about government spending, contract management and the handling of audit requests.

Panday said he was not convinced that combining several years of audit reports into single hearings would provide the level of scrutiny expected by the public. “I am not fully in support of the compiling or what we call the combining of the various yearly reports backlog for presentation,” Pandey told reporters.