There was uproar in parliament this afternoon (Dec 11) as parliamentarians clashed over what led to the halting of a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament this morning.

There were accusations of parliamentarians being untruthful.

The saga began with the PAC Chairman Mark Golding convening a meeting this morning to hear from the Auditor General and Petrojam executives about a recent report, only to have the sitting halted after the Clerk of the House sent notification that there was no agreement to meet today.

In a statement, to parliament this afternoon Leader of Government Business Karl Samuda sought to explain that the clerk had conducted a poll, which showed that majority of the parliamentarians were against the PAC sitting today.

He said the meeting was not properly convened, and accused the opposition of politicising a serious matter.

Leader of Opposition Business Phillip Paulwell, then claimed that he spoke with Samuda about the PAC meeting being set for today.

Mr. Samuda countered that Mr. Paulwell’s claims were not correct.

PAC Chairman Mark Golding then sought to explain why the scheduled economic and production committee did not meet, and how he ended up with the deciding vote to convene the PAC meeting.

He called for Samuda to be censured for halting the PAC meeting, an action he has no authority to do.

Mr. Golding also claimed that some of the government members sent apologies for their absence from the PAC, but at least one, Juliet Cuthbert denied getting notification of the meeting or sending an apology.