WATCH | Speaker believes government should not appoint ministers on Public Accounts Committee

The government should do its best not to appoint Cabinet members to parliament’s Public Accounts Committee where public expenditure is scrutinised, Speaker Carmelo Abela said.

Speaking on TVM’s Xtra on Thursday evening, Abela said that while having ministers sitting on parliamentary committees may be necessary, he believed the PAC should be treated differently.

He was replying to a question by Xtra host Kurt Sansone as to whether it was appropriate to have Cabinet members sit on committees whose role is to scrutinise the executive.

“There is one particular committee where I believe government should be careful—the PAC, whose primary aim is to scrutinise how ministries and entities under them spend public funds,” Abela said. “While parliament’s Standing Orders say nothing, the government should do its best not to appoint members of the executive on the PAC but instead appoint backbench MPs.”

Abela said this would ensure no minister would be serving as a watchdog on a fellow minister.

The PAC is a special committee since it is the only one chaired by the Opposition even if its composition reflects the government’s parliamentary majority. One of its tasks is to discuss reports drawn up by the National Audit Office and even probe issues further by calling in witnesses to testify.

Speaker to take charge of reforms

Asked about long-postponed reforms of parliament’s Standing Orders—the rules by which parliament functions—some of which hark back to 1964, Abela said he would be captaining the process in this legislature.

“During the first meeting of the House Business Committee I informed both sides of my intention that the Office of the Speaker will take charge of the reform of Standing Orders by drawing up proposals and presenting them to both sides,” the Speaker said.

He added that the process will kick off with proposals that are “straightforward and on which everyone can agree”. In this way, trust can be built, he added.

“The second phase will tackle issues that require more discussion, or can create disagreement,” Abela said.

However, he insisted that although the process will be captained by his office, it is parliament that will have to approve the changes.

“I am determined to push forward this process. I have approached a person to help us write down the changes but at the end of the day both sides have to agree because the changes cannot be forced onto them by the Speaker,” Abela said.