A planned meeting of Guyana’s key parliamentary oversight body, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), adjourned abruptly within minutes on Monday, 3 August 2026 after the entire opposition delegation from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) staged a walkout to protest the participation of Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, a senior parliamentary source has confirmed. The protest was led by APNU’s PAC representative Ganesh Mahipaul, who argued that Edghill must step back from all committee duties and resign from his cabinet post entirely, amid widespread public scrutiny over the 19 July sinking of the MV Barima. The deadly maritime disaster has left more than 100 people unaccounted for and presumed dead, and opposition parties have pinned institutional blame on Edghill and fellow cabinet minister Deodat Indar, demanding both step down. The main opposition bloc We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) has joined APNU in this call for the ministers’ removal. After Mahipaul raised the objection, PAC Chairman Vishnu Panday ruled against the demand, noting that Edghill retains his legal status as both a sitting government minister and an appointed member of the bipartisan committee. Sitting government PAC representative Gail Teixeira backed the chairman’s ruling, dismissing the opposition’s objection as procedurally out of order and insisting the committee’s scheduled work must move forward. Undeterred by the ruling, Mahipaul and fellow APNU PAC member Juretha Fernandes exited the meeting, leaving the body without the quorum required to conduct official business, forcing an immediate adjournment. The collapse of the meeting comes amid an odd contradiction for APNU: the party has repeatedly pushed for more frequent PAC sessions to clear a years-long backlog of unaddressed Auditor General’s reports. The PAC, as a bipartisan National Assembly mechanism, exists explicitly to investigate and question non-transparent government spending documented in the Auditor General’s annual audits. As of Monday afternoon, it remains unclear whether APNU will adjust its position in coming days to allow the committee to resume its work.
Edghill now stumbling block to Public Accounts Committee meetings, as APNU walks out
