“At the root of this and at the root of what we do must be the adherence to law as it is. The rule of law, persons innocent must be given a chance to reply to his accusations”.
The Hon. McKeeva Bush, Speaker of Parliament
(CMR) The Speaker of Parliament, McKeeva Bush, remains defiant in his comments on the first working day of the new session on why he delayed the tabling of an OfReg report from the Public Account's Committee (PAC) a month ago.
Speaking on Monday, December 7 2020 he noted that his ability to delay a report of the house was well within his powers and he was not happy that others had taken to the airwaves to discuss the matter.
He chastised PAC chairman for taking to the airwaves to discuss the matter.
Today Bush spoke about his decision to delay the tabling of a report on OfReg stating that he disagrees with the member and the contents of his opinion upon which the member sought to rely. The opinion was obtained from the member from North Side, Ezzard Miller from the Attorney General's Office. The opinion stated that Bush has no legal standing to refused to table a report.
Bush stressed once again he has the legal authority to review the report before tabling it and he had received a complaint from a witness who claimed that part of their testimony had been omitted.
He opined he has the discretion to delay a report based on reasons that he gave previously and also referred to a parliamentary change in New Zealand from 1996 – which discusses allegations that may seriously damage a persons' reputation.
He noted that there is a right to reply and the committee should have drawn the allegations to the attention of any person and give them the opportunity to reply.
In fact, PAC struck from the official minutes some of the comments of OfReg chair, Linford Pierson because they alleged his comments were without merit and sought to unfairly castigate and accuse the Auditor General's report on OfReg without merit.
In his early remarks, he shared that another member took to chastising him on several local radio shows.
“On the occasion of our last meeting on the historic closing of our last meeting of the LA … one member chose to chastise other members … and take a swipe at the speaker and my rulings.”
He also shared that when he joined the then Legislative Assembly back in 1984 “the audit office wasn't effective” and it took until 1992 to stop the mismanagement of government funds.
He claimed he is often told by civil servants that “government work is affected because we are told in PAC we are doing it wrong”.
He maintained that the PAC cannot deal with government policy, it's a creature of the house, responsible to the house and the house has the ability to check any member in their rush.
Speaking of Miller's appearance on local talk shows he noted:
“and then … worse is to run off to a radio show telling one side of the matter to a host or persons who don't know otherwise yet they agree, they don't know what they are talking about but they agree.”
He also shared that the PAC was too harsh on witnesses as one “fainted away and that Parliament was not designed to kill people. He commented:
“If this keeps up I must tell you … in this new area of parliament we are not here to kill people – we are protecting them.”
At one stage he also questioned how Miller is still PAC chairman despite no longer being the opposition leader.
For most of the speech, the premier's back faced the speaker as he carried on other conversations.
The PAC indicated they would attempt to have the report tabled again in the current session. Exclusive well-placed sources have indicated that the scathing report recommends the removal of Pierson as chairman of OfReg and Bush is simply protecting an old friend and colleague.
In the end, Bush said the report would now be tabled during the current session with his “ruling”.
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