Peoples United Party

Secretariat

November 16, 2012

PUP PRESS RELEASE Mis-information on the Public Accounts Committee

The Peoples United Party (PUP) would like to acknowledge with utter disdain, the continuous attempts being made by members of the government to mislead the general public in relation to an issue of national importance, namely the meeting of the Public Accounts Committee chaired by the Honorable Julius Espat. In an attempt to make out a case that the Committee should not entertain the views of the general public, the Ministry of National Security quoted section 79 (9) of the Standing Orders which states, Subject to any order of the House or resolution of the Committee, the sitting of a Select Committee shall be held in private. The PUP would like to point out that a Select Committee is demonstrably different from a Standing Committee and the two Committees are not interchangeably used in the Standing Orders. The core issue is whether the sitting of the Public Accounts Committee, which is a Standing Committee and therefore governed by section 72 (3) of the Standing Orders, is open to the public. In Belize the practice has been that sittings of Standing Committees have been public except otherwise resolved by the committees to meet in private. The PUP views this latest release by the Minister of National Security as just another deliberate attempt by the Government of Belize to deny the general public the opportunity to express their views on the recent Auditor Generals Report which cites blatant and gross instances of corruption, nepotism and financial mismanagement by the UDP Government. For more information contact Kareem Musa at 624-7638. ~ END ~

Serve the People!

#3 Queen Street, Belize City Telephone: 674-9958 Facsimile: 223-3476 Email: pupsecretariat@yahoo.com