Ganja Amendment hinges on interpretation of Consequential Orders-Ramjattan

Ganja Amendment hinges on interpretation of Consequential Orders–Ramjattan

Jul 14, 2019 News

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has made some rulings and comments with regards to the passage of the “No Confidence” motion, stating that it was rightfully passed and a comment that government is now in caretaker mode.

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan

Missing from the said judgements and comments, however, is the explanation and limitation on what is the said caretaker mode. Since cabinet has resigned it was unclear whether parliament would be held so that the pill could be tabled and possibly passed.
However, in an interview with Minister of Social Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, he made it clear that there would be parliament.
The minister said, “We have to determine all that in the context of the consequential orders. We can still have parliament and we hope that the PPP would support us, [even though] elections won’t be held in 90 days.”
Ramjattan went on to say that they will issue statements on the issue but the government is awaiting the return of Attorney General Basil Williams for advice on the matter as he is also their Chief Legal Officer.
The government recently made a proposal to remove custodial sentences for small quantities of marijuana. This publication has been following the issue since it emerged.
The most recent article published was the Director General of the Ministry of The Presidency saying that the said proposal came at the right time.
“We have had this motion laid by one of the back-benchers of the National Assembly, and we have been deliberating on that matter from the time that motion was laid.
“We said that (the government) was also going to wait on the study that was conducted by the Public Health Ministry and Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), and another study that was done by CARICOM,” Harmon said.
He added that those studies have been completed, and there were some clear recommendations on the way forward.
He said, “We believe that it was opportune to deal with a sentencing amendment to the Act.”
Harmon explained that now that the Government has all different sorts of information at its disposal, the Cabinet was able to make a reasonable and informed decision on the amendment.
Based on a recent report by the Caribbean Community, Cabinet gave this recommendation to support Rastafarians who require usage of marijuana in their worship and sacrament.
Cabinet said that the new decision does not mean that the possession of marijuana is no longer an offence, but persons will not be sentenced to imprisonment in accordance with the law.
Harmon further added during the press conference that he does not consider the government to be in a state of limbo, and that the government is “continuing the work of the people of Guyana.”

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