No meeting of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Constitutional Reform since May 2015

Oct 08, 2016 News

The A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change coalition had campaigned heavily for

Former AG,
Anil Nandlall MP

constitutional reform prior to and during the 2015 elections campaign. However, after the change of government the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Constitutional Reform has not had a single meeting.
According to one member of the Committee, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, the committee, established by the constitution of Guyana has not met in the eleventh parliament.
It has been more than 16 months since the APNU-AFC coalition government came into office and no meaningful constitutional reforms have taken place. According to Nandlall, there has been no real movement in this direction.
On Wednesday, the former AG said that the government holds the majority of seats in the Parliament and therefore wields control.
“Accordingly, it is responsible for the acts and omissions of the Parliament, including failures by any of the parliamentary committees to meet.”
He said that the lackadaisical approach towards this issue by the coalition parties is not new since it was present in the tenth Parliament whereby the same Committee only met on two occasions.
Last year the government convened a Constitutional Reform Steering committee to give direction for the constitutional reform process. The final report was handed over to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo in May. Nagamootoo, at the handing over ceremony said that after perusing the document it would be placed before Cabinet for review.
On that occasion too, the PM touted that constitutional reform was high on the government’s agenda.
Within the coalition’s manifesto, 17 areas of focus were recommended for the steering committee to address.
These areas included the establishment of a permanent Constitutional Court of three judges; the holding of separate elections to the presidency and national assembly; greater oversight of the police and defence forces by parliamentary sub-committees; a revision of the composition and processes of the service Commissions and to have members of cabinet be subjected to the approval and removal by the national assembly.