Parliament is not beyond review of the courts

May 03, 2013 News

– Attorney General
“Not even the Executive President of the country enjoys immunity from the legal process,” said Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, on Monday, as he disclosed that Government has considered and is pursuing legal action to restore cuts to the National Budget, which were imposed by the parliamentary opposition. Nandlall was at the time speaking at a People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) press conference held at the party’s Robb Street, Georgetown, headquarters.

Attorney General, Anil Nandlall

Nandlall, who is also the Minister of Legal Affairs, disclosed that legal action has been endorsed by President Donald Ramotar himself.
“The President has said very clearly that we will do all that is permissible within our law and within our constitutional structure to ensure that the cuts effected by the opposition are restored, because we consider them to be vital for the development of this country and of fundamental importance to the lives and livelihood of every single Guyanese.”
Nandlall said that Government has recognised that legal recourse has been seen as one of the options to be avidly pursued.
Pointing to cuts imposed by the parliamentary opposition last year, Nandlall said that the case to address this matter has been fixed for resumption hearing next Wednesday (May 8). In fact it was through the courts, last year, that the Government was able to restore budgetary cuts to agencies such as the National Communications Network and the Government Information Agency.
The Attorney General said that he is optimistic that “we can accelerate that process and a final ruling will be handed down by the court shortly…that final ruling ought to bring some degree of conclusivity to this issue, and hopefully the Chief Justice (Ian Chang) will offer some remarks in his judgement on the role of Parliament under the Constitution.”
Nandlall highlighted his convictions that the National Assembly, which has Speaker of the House Raphael Trotman as its presiding officer, seems to think “they have the power to disregard the Constitution, the ruling of the court, and to act beyond the jurisdiction of the court. I have emphasised that there is no agency, organ or person which enjoys that degree of immunity from the legal process – none, not even the Executive President of this country”.
Moreover, he asserted that the misnomer that Parliament is beyond review by the courts is one that must be dismantled swiftly. This, development, he said, is necessary for democracy, as it is important for the rule of law and for public order to be maintained in the country.
At an earlier press conference, Nandlall had hinted that Government was looking to the courts to rectify what he described as a “constitutional enigma” characterised by the ruling of the Speaker of the National Assembly, to allow the opposition to cut the national budget. In fact the Attorney General stated even then that the Speaker’s ruling has collided with an expressed pronouncement from the court.
According to Nandlall, the Speaker in his ruling “essentially conferred upon himself, a jurisdictional freedom to depart from a ruling of the court and that is a power that he simply does not have. His ruling therefore has presented this nation with a constitutional enigma…How we will unravel this enigma we are not sure…but what I know is that the constitutional anomaly which the Speaker’s ruling has created has far and deep reaching implications, way outside of the budgetary process.”