Parliamentary Committee commences work on constitutional reform

– AG says consensus required for substantial achievements

The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform has finally commenced work and according to Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, there needs to be a consensus among the political parties in order to achieve substantive and substantial work.
Nandlall made this remark during his weekly programme – Issues In The News – last week.
On Tuesday last, the Committee met for the first time this year, and the second time for the 12th Parliament. Nandlall had previously explained that the Committee was unable to meet regularly over the past year due to several reasons including the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the Legal Affairs Minister noted that the Parliamentary Committee will work with greater “expediency and efficiency” this year. In fact, he noted that Tuesday’s meeting was fruitful.
“At the meeting, we began to work on the work programme of the Committee; that is to say, how the Committee will do its work going forward. All parties in the National Assembly have promised constitutional reform in their manifestos so I don’t anticipate any grave resistance in terms of the agenda going forward. This is one Committee that will require consensus if anything substantive and substantial is to be achieved,” he posited.
According to Nandlall, this consensus is required because of the nature of constitutional reforms, which requires a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly for such amendments to be made.
Currently, the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has a majority of 33 seats in the 65-seat National Assembly. The A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition coalition takes up 31 seats, while the remaining seat is occupied by a representative of the joinder list which comprises of A New United Guyana (ANUG), the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and The New Movement (TNM).
As it is, Nandlall is the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform and the other members consist of four Government MPs – Education Minister Priya Manickchand; Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr; Public Service Minister Sonia Parag and Attorney-At-Law Sanjeev Datadin – as well as four members from the APNU/AFC Opposition – Khemraj Ramjattan, Raphael Trotman, Dr Nicolette Henry, and Amanza Walton-Desir.
The Legal Affairs Minister contended that there needs to be bilateral cooperation in the Parliament, especially between the two majority political parties.
“So, we will have to have a lot of consensual decisions going forward and I made that very clear to the Committee,” he stated.
Meanwhile, he further disclosed that at Tuesday’s meeting, the Parliamentary Committee begun to amass all the work that was done by previous committees including the immediate past one. He reminded that in the 11th Parliament, a Constitutional Reform Bill was tabled and sent to the Standing Committee, which had started discussions.
“All those materials are now being collected,” the AG noted.
He went on to reveal that the Committee is also looking at modus operandi and modality used by the Constitutional Reform Commission of 1999 to 2001. The Minister said they are reviewing the Act that provided for the establishment of that Commission as well as the Constitutional Reform Bill.
“There are certain recommendations that came out of the 1999 to 2001 process that were never implemented. We are accumulating those amendments and grouping them together so that when we begin to discuss our work programme and how it will manifest itself, we will have all these materials available,” Nandlall indicated.
The Legal Affairs Minister also disclosed that the Parliamentary Standing Committee also collectively agreed to a “publicly consultative engagement” so that all stakeholders are involved in the Constitutional Reform process.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform was established under Article 119A of the Constitution, which states that “as soon as may be the beginning of each National Assembly there shall be appointed a Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform for the purpose of the continually reviewing the effectiveness of the working of the Constitution and making periodic reports there on to the National Assembly, with proposal for reform as necessary.”
It is noted that the Committee has the power to co-opt experts or enlist the aid of other persons of appropriate expertise, whether or not such experts or other persons are Members of the National Assembly, to assist in its work.
With many of Guyana’s laws archaic, calls for constitutional reform have been constantly made. But it was heightened even more two years ago after the March 2020 General and Regional Elections. This was after a five-month tumultuous impasse ensued after the then APNU/AFC coalition regime attempted to sway the election results in a bid to hang onto office.
After swearing into office following a national recount, the Dr Irfaan-Ali led Administration promised both constitutional and electoral reforms.
Already, one set of proposed changes to the Representative of People’s Act (RoPA) has been released to the public for consultation, while the AG Chamber is currently wrapping up another set of amendments that focuses on the registration of electors.
Nandlall said, “That set is even more complicated. The work there is a little more tedious because the material you have to examine is of a wide magnitude and a little more complex than the ROPA.”