Newly installed Law Reform Commission urged to be proactive in amending outdated legislation

Sep 11, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The newly installed Law Reform Commission (LRC) is being urged to be proactive rather than reactive in tackling amendments to the outdated pieces of legislation. Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, held his first meeting with the seven-member commission, which officially commenced its work on Wednesday and made the said statement among others.

Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC

Following the meeting at the Commission’s Middle Street, Georgetown office, the AG told reporters that while we have had law reform in Guyana being reactive, “we will try to get this Law Reform Commission to be proactive, so that we have legislation in anticipation of issues, and not as a reaction to when something happens, [then] you go and pass the law to correct it.”
Nandlall told the media however that at present, the Commission’s first duty is to correct all errors and amendments made to the laws between the period of 2012 to 2021.
To do this, the Law Reform Commission will work in tandem with the Law Revision Commission; a unit which is headed by the AG.
“Firstly, [they will have] to correct all of the errors and omissions that we would have made during the last revision exercise when we consolidated the laws in 2012 … We want to now revise the laws from 2012 to 2021. That means we have to incorporate into the laws, all the amendments that we would have passed since 2012 in the National Assembly and also all the new laws that we would have passed and put into consolidated volumes, that will be the updated laws of Guyana,” Nandlall said of the impending efforts to conduct a thorough law revision exercise.
The discussions were held at the National Sports Commission building in Middle Street, in which the operations of the LRC will be housed, focused on the agenda and work of the committee going forward.
According to the Minister of Legal Affairs, the Law Reform Commission has a long and arduous task ahead. “We are still grappling with the mammoth nature of the agenda that the Commission has to execute,” he said.
According to Nandlall, it is only after the law revision is done that process of holistically reviewing the Laws of Guyana with a view of reforming them, especially those that are archaic can commence.
The AG noted that the work would require the seven-member Commission conducting public consultations on “thorny issues” such as decriminalising suicide, the removal of the death penalty and decriminalisation of marijuana.
“So the Law Reform Commission will be dealing with thorny issues and make recommendations to the Government… It is the Law Reform Commission that must go out now and have the consultations, trash out the thorny issues and then come back with reports and recommendations based upon their consultations which will be taken into account by the Government of the day,” AG Nandlall stated.
The body will be working closely with the Regional Director of the IMPACT Justice Project, Professor Velma Newton, from Barbados.
The Commission was sworn in last month by President Irfaan Ali, who charged them to modernise the Laws of Guyana to reflect societal and economic changes taking place in the country. The current Law Reform Commission, which is the first of its kind in Guyana, will be in effect for three years.
The Commission, which is being chaired by Retired Justice of Appeal, B.S. Roy, and includes the other Commissioners, such as attorney Teni Housty, Clarissa Riehl, Deenawati Panday, Brian O’Toole, Emily Dodson and Roopnarine Satram, is required to meet four times monthly.

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