AG Nandlall schools Opposition on upholding Guyana’s Constitution, rule of law

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, S.C., on Friday schooled the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition on constitutionality and the rule of law in Guyana when he outlined the many transgressions committed by the Coalition in and out of office.
In his presentation during the debates on the $1.146 trillion Budget for 2024, Nandlall said the “performances” over the past four days have established and illustrated the great divide between the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government and the “misplaced” APNU/AFC Opposition.
“A difference in leadership, a difference in depth, a difference in vision, a difference in competence, and a difference in track record. There is simply no comparison [between Government and the Opposition] whatsoever!” Nandlall stated.
The Attorney General pointed out that Budget 2024 is another installment of Government’s plan to create a modern Guyana. He added that most of the transformational policies and projects upon which the Government is embarking require a modern legislative framework, and the PPP/C Administration has been working assiduously on a robust legislative agenda that aims to modernise the Constitution and strengthen the rule of law.
According to Nandlall, the rule of law and an independent, competent judiciary are foundations upon which a modern society rest; no nation has economically progressed, and no people have advanced, without these prerequisites.
He said that is something the Coalition Opposition knows nothing about.
“The Coalition Government… was defeated by a No Confidence Motion on 22nd December, 2018, but squatted in office even after you lost an election, until 2nd August 2020! Don’t bother with British Conventions, just obey our Constitution! Don’t try a veneer of sophistication, obey the laws of the land!”
Nandlall reminded that rather than resigning, as stipulated in the Constitution, the David Granger-led Government went to the courts to challenge the passage of the motion with the “most clumsy argument”, claiming that 33 is not the majority of 65 with regards to the seats in the National Assembly.
“The students…must know that 33 is a majority, one of the several majorities of the total sum of 65. Well, those on [the Opposition] side didn’t know that!” Nandlall declared.

Flagrant violation
The Attorney General went on to respond to the sermons on democracy being given by Opposition Members of Parliament. He argued that it is an area that the APNU/AFC has no right to talk about. In fact, the minister outlined instances of their flagrant violation of Guyana’s Constitution during their time in office.
“[Opposition Chief Whip Christopher] Jones quoted adeptly from a United Nations document on democracy, but he obviously omitted to share with us the part of the document that must have said that when you lose an election, you got to demit office… Even when they left office, they went with two petitions to the court, and they tried and tried and they failed and failed, until the rule of law prevailed,” he declared. “They are lecturing us on constitutionality…but how can the people of Guyana forget when the Judiciary declared that President Granger violated the Constitution when he directed the Public Service Commission and the Police Service Commission to halt promotions of public servants and Police officers?
“How can the people of Guyana forget when the Judiciary declared that President Granger violated the Constitution when he revoked 50 leases for rice farmers in Region Five?
“How can the people of Guyana forget when the Judiciary declared that President Granger violated the Constitution when he terminated the lease of the Cheddi Jagan Research Institute?
“How can the people of Guyana forget when the Judiciary declared that President Granger violated the Constitution by rejecting 18 nominees of the Leader of the Opposition and unilaterally appointed James Patterson as the Chairman of GECOM? (Guyana Elections Commission)

“And now you come here to lecture us on constitutionality?” Nandlall queried.
Even after declaring all of the above, the Attorney General went on to point out that the APNU/AFC’s transgressions continued in the Opposition when he reminded of the infamous Mace grab and disruptions of the National Assembly sitting on December 29, 2021.
According to Nandlall, the Opposition MPs have the audacity to lecture the Government’s side when they blatantly and publicly created a riot in the House.
“They have now become the standard bearers of parliamentary morality and decorum in the National Assembly…But who can forget that night [when] the Honourable Members on that side – the moral police as they want to be now – Mr Speaker, they ignored every one of your admonitions repeatedly when you told them to take their seats, and they descended into the rotunda of the National Assembly and they wined, and they danced, and they gyrated, and they blew whistles, and they sang. And they (did) it for the world to see! And not being satisfied with that kind of riotous conduct, they charged towards the Mace, broke it, and ran away with it, dragging a staff of this Parliament along the floor, calling him a “house slave”.
In contrast, Minister Nandlall said, the PPP/C Government recognises that the Constitution is the most paramount and fundament of Guyana’s legal instruments, providing the basis through which the country functions and is governed.
In this regard, he highlighted efforts undertaken by the current administration to create a modern legislative framework.
Guyana has already passed the Constitutional Reform Commission Act, and before the first quarter of this year, the revision of the Laws of Guyana would be concluded and the new laws would be published. In addition, Guyana Law Reports from the year 2008 to 2020 will be published.
A new building to house the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) would be completed and commissioned at Onderneeming in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) later this year; and a new edifice is being constructed at Suddie to house the Deeds and Commercial Registry authorities.
In 2024, $800 million has been budgeted for the construction of a new Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority at Esplanade Road in New Amsterdam, and another Hope and Justice Centre will be built at Vergenoegen on the East Bank of Essequibo.
The first centre was commissioned at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara.
In 2024, Government will be donating a portion of land to accommodate a building to house the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic at Providence, East Bank Demerara. The Sexual Offenses Act is being reviewed, and Guyana will also have new legislation that would provide for the trial of certain criminal matters to be conducted solely by a judge.
Appointments will be made this year for the Judicial Service Commission. This will see the appointments of six justices of appeal, nine judges appointed to the High Court, and two commissioners of title.
In addition to the appointments of magistrates and new court houses, Government has also launched, in December 2023, a pilot case management system for the Magistrates Court system to bring immense efficiency and modernity to the sector in Guyana.
“I hope that I have demonstrated vividly to the people of the country that those on [the Opposition] side are completely unfit and unqualified to come anywhere close to our Government,” AG Nandlall declared. (G8)