Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley says there must be full-time parliamentarians to engage in the oversight of government spending. He also said there was need to have smaller Cabinets and larger parliamentary committees to operate as watchdogs over government spending. Rowley was speaking during yesterday's one-day workshop for all MPs and Senators at the Magdalena Grand Beach Resort, Lowlands, Tobago.
Several Government and Opposition MPs and Senators from Government, Opposition and Independent benches were in attendance at the event which was sponsored by the European Union and the T&T Parliament. Rowley said accountability will mean nothing if there are no consequences. "For accountability to be effective, there has to be consequences."
He also said the need for reporting of the information required to ensure proper accountability should be done in a timely manner. Rowley said the required level of parliamentary oversight will never be achieved "by parliamentarians who are provided too few man-hours to supervise billions of dollars."
He said it was not a matter of cost. He said there would be significant benefits to the nation if more people were engaged in providing the required parliamentary oversight. He said under current arrangements the Office of the Auditor General "may not in fact be prepared, either in strength, quality or effectiveness, in reporting in a timely manner."
PM: Some of Rowley's suggestions already being implemented
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who spoke after Rowley said a number of his suggestions were in the process of being implemented. She assured the event was "not just another talk shop," as some of the recommendations made would be implemented by her Government. She said the Auditor General "is under tremendous stress" and this has caused the reports from the office to the Parliament to be "way outdated."
She said the hosting of the workshop was part of the PP election promise to reform the Parliament in the interest of the people of T&T. The PM said the Government had kept its commitment to prepare new procurement measures in the country and was now moving to draft new legislation with a view to having it become the law of the land.
Meanwhile, the Third Draft of A Study on Parliamentary Scrutiny and Existing Parliamentary Practice, dated February 2012, which was done by consultant Anthony Staddon, recommended changes to the existing parliamentary committee system. He said the work of the Public Accounts Committee and the Public Accounts (Enterprises) Committee were being adversely affected because Cabinet ministers are on them and unable to attend meetings.
The report said, "Consideration could be given to restricting this practice to Ministers of State and Parliamentary Secretaries only." He also suggested that another option would be to have the same members on the two committees but with different chairmen.