Latest update January 17th, 2025 6:30 AM
Nandlall says Constitutional reform committee ready to proceed with work
Kaieteur News – After months of delay, the Parliamentary Committee set up to coordinate the much talked about Constitutional Reform process in Guyana is expected to proceed with its work, Attorney General, Anil Nandlall has said.
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC.
Kaieteur News understands, the committee will meet early in the new week to discuss the work programme. Nandlall SC told Kaieteur News that the committee has already started to discuss and review work done in the previous cycles of the constitutional reform. “The standing committee on Constitutional Reform has been appointed and the work has begun…Currently on the agenda is the discussion of the work programme. The discussion will start on April 19,” the AG said.
The Attorney General had previously announced that the process for constitutional reform will commence this year. He had explained that the process was stymied last year because of the Coronavirus pandemic and a number of other matters. He nonetheless stressed that once the meeting is held, the process will begin to achieve momentum “and we will have constitutional reform.”
Nandlall therefore expressed hope that all stakeholders will participate in the process so that a healthy consultative exercise can be had and that it can produce solid recommendations to propel the way forward.
During a recent airing of his Facebook commentary Issues in the News, the AG touched on the issue. Nandlall spoke of the numerous provisions that have been added to the constitution as a result of the previous reform processes. According to the AG, this should not be, as the document now contains a series of unnecessary clauses and legal provisions. “The Constitutions is a serious document …but we have many provisions in our constitution that should not be a constitution,” Nandlall said noting “nevertheless that the new cycle of constitutional reform will be driven by public consultation.”
Soon after the PPP/C took office in August of 2020, Nandlall had outlined the legislative agenda for his ministry and he had said that reform of the election laws and constitution were high on the agenda. Last July, he had disclosed that the National Assembly’s Constitutional Reform Committee met only twice for the year due to COVID-19 constraints but at the same time had noted that should not be seen as non-commitment to the process by the PPP/C government.
A standing Committee for Constitutional Reform was appointed pursuant to Article 119A of the Constitution. The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform consists of at least six members nominated by the Committee of Selection.
The Committee was appointed for the purpose of the continually reviewing the effectiveness of the working of the Constitution and making periodic reports there on to the National Assembly, with proposal for reform as necessary. To assist in its work, the Committee also has the power to co-opt experts or enlist the aid of other persons of appropriate expertise, whether or not such experts or other persons are Members of the National Assembly.
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