Clerk must fulfill his constitutional obligation - APNU

Clerk must fulfill his constitutional obligation – APNU

Sep 11, 2013 News

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is calling on the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, to fulfill the obligations of his office and send four Local Government Bills to the President.
APNU made its call with reference to Article 170 (2) of the Constitution which provides that, “When a bill is presented to the President for assent, he shall signify that he assents or that he withholds assent.” And Article 170 (3) which provides, “Where the President withholds his assent to a Bill, he shall return it to the Speaker within twenty-one days of the date when it was presented to him for assent with a message stating the reasons why he has withheld his assent.”
The party said in a press statement yesterday that it recognizes that the above mentioned articles do not state who has the responsibility for presenting Bills to the President and that, until the President is presented with the Bills, the prescribed time cannot be said to have elapsed. Standing Order (S O) 67 of the Standing Orders of the National Assembly, nevertheless, clearly reposes responsibility for the presentation of the said Bills to the President in the Clerk of the National Assembly.
APNU pointed to Standing Order 67 which prescribes that, “Every Bill passed by the Assembly shall remain in the custody of the Clerk who shall, subject to Article 164 of the Constitution, at the earliest opportunity, submit the Bill to the President for his or her assent.” It was stressed that the words “shall remain in the custody of the Clerk” are mandatory.
APNU noted that despite the Clerk’s requirement to submit the Bills for assent “at the earliest opportunity,” the four Bills, passed a month ago, have not been sent to the President.
The statement carried that “APNU considers that it would constitute a breach of the duty and an abdication of the specific responsibility of the Clerk of the National Assembly for the said Bills to be submitted to the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs after their passage by the National Assembly as there is no provision in the Constitution or Standing Orders authorizing such a procedure.”
The Bills in question are the Local Government Commission Bill, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill, the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill and the Fiscal Transfers Bill.

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Clerk must fulfill his constitutional obligation – APNU

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