Govt prepared for debate on SARA Bill- Harmon

Mar 11, 2017 News

Even though the State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA) Bill was not debated on Thursday as most expected, Minster of State, Joseph Harmon assured that the government is all set and ready to rumble on the matter when it comes to the

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon

fore in the National Assembly.
The issue of the SARA Bill was brought up yesterday at a post Cabinet press conference which was held at the Ministry of Presidency, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Bourda.
There, Harmon was reminded of his previous statements that the Bill would have been debated on Thursday.
He explained however that the matter was deferred to another date since it is his understanding that there were a number of speakers for that Bill.
“So you wouldn’t want to start a Bill with many speakers in the night and then postpone half way through. So it is anticipated that it is coming up but government will be ready for the debate,” Harmon added.
On Thursday’s sitting of the National Assembly, there were two other issues which were on the Order paper before the SARA Bill. These were the Civil Aviation Bill and the Hamilton Green Pension. Both matters utilized the first and second sessions of the House which lasted for almost five hours.
The Private Sector Commission has since expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the SARA Bill which was laid in the National Assembly a few weeks ago is essentially the same Bill that was presented to stakeholders last year during consultations.
The Commission stated that while the consensus of businesses is that there is a need for unlawfully appropriated assets of the State to be recovered, it was felt that the SARA Bill provides too much unchecked power to the Agency.
The body believes that based on the Bill, the Director of SARA supersedes the Courts, the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority. It said that the Bill will impede business progress as it allows for harassment and political victimization of legitimate businesses.
The Commissioner commented that the Bill allows staff of the Agency to arbitrarily look at private accounts and financial information of citizens without due process. It also noted that the Bill should be recalled and amended to be consistent with the constitutional rights of citizens.
CEO of the State Assets Recovery Unit, Aubrey Heath-Retemyer, told Kaieteur News that the changes proposed by the Commission were based on the fact that they did not understand several aspects of the Bill.
The SARU Officer said that while the Commission was not alone in this boat, efforts were made to ensure that all misunderstandings regarding the Bill were clarified.
He said, “I do recall their concerns with the Bill, but the truth is that the criticisms we received on the Bill were largely due to the fact that people did not understand it, and that was the case with the Commission.”
Heath-Retemyer said that there were no “substantial” changes made to the provisions, but there was some “tightening of the language used.”