President not a puppet of National Assembly – Attorney General

Jun 23, 2012 News

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“It would be irresponsible for a national assembly to pass a law which would collide with executive Policies and programmes which the executive is pursuing, because it is the exclusive responsibility of the executive to craft, implement, promulgate and administer policies. So you cannot make laws that would be contradictory to those policies, so it is recommended that the National Assembly is consistent with implementing laws to develop the country in line with Government policies.”

–    Legislators must ensure that the laws are in keeping with the executive’s policies
Attorney General Anil Nandlall has refuted comments made by Alliance For Change (AFC) Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan, that if the President intends not to sign any Bills put forward by the opposition it would create a constitutional crisis.
“Mr. Ramjattan has always evinced a tendency to sensationalize matters, and of taking a very superficial view of a very complex and complicated constitutional issues; his pronouncements at his press conference is yet another one of such manifestation,” Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall said.

Ramjattan’s comments came during his reply to statements made by President Donald Ramotar who threatened not assent to Bills passed in the National Assembly by the combined opposition, and which have no Government input.
Ramjattan also noted that such a position by the President would demonstrate contempt and disdain for the National Assembly, which is tantamount to holding the National Assembly hostage.
However, the Government’s Chief Legal Officer, Anil Nandlall, said that Mr. Ramjattan’s recent comments on the president creating a constitutional crisis are simplistic and superfluous.
“They are expressed without any regard for the constitutional provisions which govern the issue, and it is highly irresponsible and reckless for a political party to pronounce on such important issues without taking into account the provisions expressed by the constitution dealing with the issue.”
Noting that when a Bill is presented to the president for his assent, the president shall signify that he assents or withholds, Nandlall said there can be no constitutional crisis as mentioned by AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan, since article 170 in the constitution says very clearly that the president can refuse to assent to any Bill.
“Subject to provisions 164, the power of parliament to make laws shall be exercised by Bills passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the president. There is a two-pronged process; it does not mean that once it is passed by the National Assembly, that ineluctably (inescapably) it must be assented to by the President.”
He added that the constitution is the document that prescribes how laws are made and how laws are passed in Guyana.
The Attorney General explained that article 65 of the constitution says “subjected to the provisions of this constitution Parliament may make laws for the peace, order and good government of Guyana. Mr. Ramjattan is confusing the National Assembly with Parliament, since the national assembly is only a component of Parliament.”
He further explained that Parliament consists of the National Assembly and the President, “so there cannot be any law which can be made without the Presidential assent, since the framers of the constitution contemplated a situation where the National Assembly and the President would be complicit in their actions and not inconsistent in their actions, so both components require complicity in the National Assembly.”
Underscoring the components of the National Assembly and the President, Nandlall said article 170 of the constitution explains how the President can treat a bill which emerges from the National Assembly.
“Where the President withholds his assent to a Bill he shall return it to the Speaker of the National Assembly within 21 days of the date that it was presented to him for his assent with a message stating the reasons why he has withheld his assent….However, where a Bill is so returned it shall not again be presented to the President for assent, unless within six months, the Bill being so returned upon a motion supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the elected members of the National Assembly,” the Attorney General underscored.
When questioned if the president was badly advised and made the comment out of frustration, Nandlall said that politicians especially those who are lawyers must ensure that they consult the relevant laws and the constitution before they make grand pronouncements
Assuming that the National Assembly needs to pass a law, Nandlall noted that the legislative must ensure that the law is in keeping with the executive policies upon the issue which the law relates.
“It would be irresponsible for a National Assembly to pass a law which would collide with executive policies and programmes which the executive is pursuing, because it is the exclusive responsibility of the executive to craft, implement, promulgate and administer policies. So you cannot make laws that would be contradictory to those policies, so it is recommended that the National Assembly is consistent with implementing laws to develop the country in line with Government policies.”
He said that the President would be proper in refusing his assent to a law which he believes the executive cannot enforce and cannot administer.
“If the National Assembly pilots a Bill using its majority, in which the executive does not have an input, and which the Government benches in Parliament is opposed, because the executive is not in a position to enforce or administer the law, or the law is inconsistent of extant government policies on the issue, the President would be obliged in those circumstances to hold his assent as the constitution permits him to do,” Nandlall said.

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