The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that were scheduled to commence this week have been suspended indefinitely.
The Chairman of the committee, Dithapelo Keorapetse, confirmed last week that the meetings will not take place.
“There will be no PAC,” he said in a brief response to our SMS inquiries on latest developments regarding the proceedings.
He would however not respond to any further enquiries on the matter.
Keorapetse had announced two weeks ago that the committee which is made up of 10 MPs was ready to start work, but was only waiting for the Speaker’s green light.
He said during the interview that the PAC had wanted to conduct its own investigation into the National Petroleum Fund (NPF) scandal which is before the courts, but was also waiting for the Attorney General to make a final decision on the matter.
Initially the AG had advised the PAC of the 11th Parliament not to go ahead with the investigation since it was likely to be in conflict with court proceedings.
The PAC was not able to sit last year since its members were busy preparing for the general elections and therefore it has a backlog.
The partial opening of the economy for fear of spreading COVID19 virus may be the reason for the indefinite suspension.
Meanwhile, efforts to get a comment from Speaker of the National Assembly or Clerk of the National Assembly Phandu Skelemani and Barbara Dithapo respectively were futile since morning.
