We are dismayed that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament is not aggressively going about all the things we know to be its business and that it appears that it is having to be coaxed into action by Auditor General Adrian Strachan.

As was reported on our front page earlier this week, Mr. Strachan is concerned that reports he submitted to the legislature for the past two fiscal years, 2004/2005 and 2005/2006, are yet to be examined by the PAC. And given that the general election will take place this year, continued dithering by the committee could mean that review of these reports could well await the election of a new Parliament, or not be done at all.

That would be a deep shame, especially given the fact that the PAC's reason for not doing its job is, to say the least, specious; it has been too busy holding hearings into the US$43 million overrun on the construction of the Sandals Whitehouse Hotel.

Should the PAC, its leadership and members not recall or never clearly grasped, the office of the Auditor General is a very important institution in Jamaica's governmental arrangements. It operates as a sort of watchdog on the people's behalf over how government ministries and agencies spend taxpayers' money and if they follow the rules.

The Auditor General's reports are, albeit, after the fact. Nonetheless, they provide a point of departure to determine points of weaknesses in the Government's procurement and financial management arrangements and, in some instances, uncover corruption.

Importantly, the PAC's review of the Auditor General's annual and special reports, provide opportunities to explore nuances beyond the factual and legal basis of his findings.

In other words, the PAC helps in the process of holding people accountable and in discerning between circumstances of negligence, incompetence, weak management systems or sheer corruption. In that respect, its hearings, under the privilege and authority of Parliament, are important.

We are, however, being told that the Sandals Whitehouse matter has made the committee too busy and that Mr. Strachan is hoping that they quickly wrap up the work that is nearing an end and move on to his reports. He hopes that they deal with the two outstanding reports simultaneously.

There should not have to be any such pleading by the Auditor General; not if the PAC takes its work seriously and its members understand their roles as legislators. If they do, they would find the time for these hearings, including sitting far more often than is traditionally the case of the PAC.

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