Govt to sensitise public about offences, benefits of new laws passed this year – AG

With some 20 pieces of legislation already passed in the first half of the parliamentary year, the Guyana Government will soon be embarking on a public awareness campaign to enlighten citizens and key stakeholders of these various laws.
This was revealed by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, who has underscored the need for the public to be made aware of these new laws and/or amendments.
According to Nandlall, a number of modern and complex laws have been passed in the National Assembly so far this year. He explained that each of these pieces of legislation is intended and designed to improve the lives and livelihood of the people of Guyana and so, they must be told in the simplest of languages how each of these laws will benefit them.
“The ordinary citizen and the policemen who are required to enforce the law, the Judiciary who are to interpret the law and other important stakeholders, it is imperative that they understand the law. And we are moving at such a pace that Cabinet has formed the view that we need to start an aggressive public awareness programme to sensitise our population on the laws that we’re passing so that first of all, they understand how they can benefit from these laws,” he stated.
Minister Nandlall pointed out that this awareness campaign will focus on sensitising the population on the various laws being passed to understand their benefits and some cases, the breaches. The latter, the Attorney General outlined, is particularly important especially since ignorance of the law is not a defence.
“If you don’t know the law then how will you be expected to obey the law? And it is impossible to expect that ordinary citizens find the laws and read them. It is almost impossible to expect that the ordinary policeman and woman will find the laws and read them and understand them. That’s an inconvenient reality to accept but it is a reality.”
“So, we have to launch an aggressive and direct public awareness campaign in a diversified way, targeting the various sectors including the public in ensuring that the laws are simplified, that these Bills are explained, that their benefits are highlighted, that the people whom laws intended to benefit understand how, and that the offences are being known to them so that they will avoid committing them,” the Legal Affairs Minister posited.
AG Nandlall further stated that this initiative has to be a multi-faceted approach that will be led by his Legal Affairs Ministry, starting as soon as in the coming weeks. This exercise will commence with a television programme – “Simplifying the Law” – that will see officials such as Government Ministers, Police officers and other officers from the legal fraternity such as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chambers, Legal Officers from State agencies and members of the Guyana Bar Association. Members of Parliament as well as from the Judiciary will also be invited to participate in the exercise.
Additionally, civil society stakeholders such as those from the private sector, the labour movement and religious organisations will also be engaged during the initiative.
“So, we will have different panels discussing different pieces of legislation that we are passing in our effort to bring public awareness to this slew of laws that we are enacting in our legislative agenda… I hope we get the cooperation of stakeholders… It’s a decision that Cabinet made because of the number of legislations that we are passing and we need to bring our population up to speed with them,” the Attorney General stated.
Among the new laws passed this year is the Petroleum Activities Bill 2023, which is characterised by modernised regulations and transparent governance to govern for the exploration, production, storage, and transportation of petroleum in Guyana. The new legislation repeals and replaces the outdated Petroleum Exploration and Production Act of 1986.
The National Assembly also has the Data Protection (Amendment) Bill that will protect a person’s right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data. It provides for the regulation of the collection, keeping, processing, use and dissemination of personal data.
Additionally, the Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill which will allow for electronic communication to be recognised by law and, acceptable for business and Government transactions, was also approved in the House.
New laws to regulate the use of electric bicycles on Guyana’s roadways were also passed in the National Assembly under the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill and will now see e-bikes having to be licensed as well as an age restriction on those who use this mode of transportation.
Meanwhile, ahead of the upcoming assessment by the Financial Action Taskforce in September, the Guyana Government updated the local Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act of 2009 as well as several other areas that had deficiencies that were flagged by FATF.
The Bill seeks to modify the Act to meet the best-practised standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and improve the abilities and powers of law enforcement in combatting money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing.
The other Bill passed is the Guyana Compliance Commission Bill of 2023, which allows for the provision of adequate supervision to designated non-financial businesses or professions and non-bank financial institutions, for compliance with obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act.
Another area where Guyana’s AML/CFT laws had deficiencies was the unregulated real estate sector. This was changed with the passage of the Real Estate Agents and Brokers Bill which seeks to regulate the functions and operations of real estate agents and agencies.