Cummins refutes claims of gov’t hindering PAC work

Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Lisa Cummins, has strongly refuted claims that the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) government has obstructed the work of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), insisting that at no point has the administration opposed its function.

Her comments come amid heightened scrutiny over the PAC’s role in government oversight, with opposition figures and Independent senators questioning the pace of its investigations and the release of reports.

“It is incorrect, it is misleading, and bordering on something perhaps even more problematic to suggest that this government has at any time objected to the functioning of the PAC,” Cummins declared during Wednesday’s Senate sitting.

She noted that the government remains committed to transparency and that records from the Parliament of Barbados confirm its participation in PAC meetings. 

She laid a document before the Senate—the official record of public accounts meetings held between 2018 and 2024—demonstrating that the government had actively engaged in the committee’s work.

Cummins provided a detailed timeline of PAC meetings, noting that between 2018 and 2023, the first session of Parliament saw multiple discussions on key matters, including the Transport Board and the Barbados Water Authority. 

After the 2022 general election, which began the second session of Parliament, three PAC meetings were held in 2024: on June 3, June 24, and July 8. 

She stressed that all three meetings were in-camera sessions, meaning they were not publicly broadcast.

She further explained that the opposition had representation at these meetings, with former Senator Tricia Watson attending the first session and her successor, Senator Ryan Walters, present at the subsequent ones. 

According to Cummins, the government’s position has always been to complete unfinished work before moving on to new matters.

Addressing public speculation over the controversial HOPE report, she clarified that it was never before the Parliament when the PAC met in 2024 and, therefore, could not have been considered at that time. 

However, she assured that once the report was properly laid, the PAC would be free to examine it.

“The government was very clear as well in those meetings that we had no objection once the report was laid that it would be considered by the PAC as a properly laid and presented document of this chamber,” she said.

Cummins also accused the former Democratic Labour Party (DLP) administration of attempting to abolish the PAC when current Prime Minister Mia Mottley chaired the committee as opposition leader. 

She claimed that between 2015 and 2016, the DLP government had refused to attend PAC meetings.

In response to accusations that the BLP government has hindered the committee’s work, she pointed out that no PAC meetings have been called since July 8, 2024.

“The Government of Barbados, this Barbados Labour Party government, cannot be accused of frustrating the work of a committee that does not call meetings at all,” she said. 

(SM)