Latest update December 12th, 2024 1:00 AM
This impending legislation threatens my rights
Dear Editor,
I am writing in protest of action to be taken by the APNU/AFC Coalition Government, which I believe threatens my rights and freedoms as a Guyanese citizen without any form of consultation. When I voted in May 2015, it was clear in my mind that I wanted change. After 23 years of the PPP, who wouldn’t want a breath of fresh air? I wanted to see different people in charge of the government, different people leading policies, and different people engaged in solving our problems.
Now, nearly two years later, I must say that I am somewhat disappointed because the Coalition Government has taken up a piece of legislation, essentially drafted by the previous PPP government and has decided to bring it into law without public debate or sensitization. What a piece of arrogance! The piece of legislation has far-reaching implication for everyone, smokers and non-smokers alike.
The Coalition Government is considering the passage of the Anti-Tobacco Legislation, which as it now stands proposes a ban on smoking in public places, including one’s home. Nothing is wrong with a ban on smoking in public spaces but as I understand it, the legislation defines my private home as public space if persons are employed by me as general help, gardener, babysitter, or household help. If any one of these persons is employed in your private home, it is subject to the full force of the new legislation.
Therefore, if you are a smoker like me and happen to employ one of those persons listed, under the new legislation you are not allowed to smoke in your own home because of the presence of your employee(s) who render your home a “public space” subject to the vagaries of the legislation. The ban on smoking in public places also prevents you from smoking in your private vehicle if the said vehicle is being used to transport others.
Declaring what are public places and private spaces is already a controversial topic. However, when one’s home and private vehicle are added into the mix, it becomes an issue of which every Guyanese should be concerned. This legislation which remains in secret proposes to trespass upon our constitutional rights and freedoms and the government does not see it appropriate to have an open debate on its implication for the entire society. One of the many disappointments taken from this situation thus far, as it unfolds in the days or weeks ahead, is that I really don’t see the change I voted for in the way the Coalition Government has so far approached the pending Anti-tobacco legislation.
I didn’t know, for example, that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is a Guyanese citizen and would have voted in the May 2015 general elections and therefore would be entitled to such influence in the legislation over everyone else. It is clear to me that the government has stopped listening to the people and is only interested in executing the agendas of special interest like PAHO in so far as the legislation is concerned. Elections are every five years. I will see how much influence PAHO will have then to keep their friends in power. In the meantime, the government should open up the debate on the legislation. I would like to add my voice as would be many others. Thanks for taking the time to read and publish my concerns
Concerned citizen
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