-by NaAsia Bristol

The Public Accounts Committee has adopted a proposal to tackle the backlog of audit reports from 2020 to 2024. 

The plan will see the reports examined simultaneously, with Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill saying the move could help clear the backlog within a year.

“Rather than keep repeating the same rhetoric, we have a backlog, we have a backlog, we have a backlog, we have a backlog, let’s bring an end to the rhetoric. Let’s put action in place and I think the proposal has charted a course of how we could get it done and it has been adopted,” he said.
Edghill believes holding extended meetings once a month could allow the committee to clear the backlog within a year. 

He noted that audit queries have fallen from approximately 800 in 2019 to about 179, making it easier to examine multiple years during the same sitting.

Meanwhile, APNU representative Ganesh Mahipaul has welcomed the move, saying the simultaneous examination of reports will reduce travel costs and the time accounting officers spend away from their duties.

“Accounting officers will have to be prepared to answer all five of their queries for those five years at that sitting. If there is a case where they are not prepared to give an answer, there may be inadequacies in terms of their knowing and so on, we will leave the paragraph open and they will come again and answer. But it is an opportunity for us to clear the backlog,” he said.
Mahipaul stressed that the new approach would not compromise scrutiny, as outstanding queries would remain open if accounting officers fail to provide adequate answers.

The move is also expected to help the committee catch up with the Auditor General’s 2025 report, which has not yet been tabled in the National Assembly.