Send National Intelligence and Security Agency Bill to Special Select Committee

Send National Intelligence and Security Agency Bill to Special Select Committee – President Ali

Apr 30, 2023 News

Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali has instructed Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira and Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC to send the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) Bill to a Special Select Committee “so that the views and ideas of all stakeholders can be examined.”

In a post, via his official Facebook page, President Ali said “I am aware of the importance of this Bill, but equally, I am committed to ensuring the fulsome nature of the Bill is understood and that interested stakeholders be given the opportunity to contribute to it.”

President Irfaan Ali

Attorney General Nandlall tabled the Bill on Monday in the National Assembly. In his presentation he said that the NISA Bill brings into statutory recognition an agency that has already existed for some 13 years.

He explained: “What this bill seeks to do is establish the agency by law to clearly set out what the agency’s powers are, who will constitute the agency, by what mechanism they will be appointed, and how the agency will be funded.”

Highlighting that the agency is not a law enforcement body, Nandlall clarified that it will work in tandem with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in intelligence gathering.

The agency had been performing the very functions outlined in the bill, but there was no governance structure or statutory framework.

Following the presentation of the Bill, Minister Nandlall said given the fact that the agency deals with issues of national security, as expected; there is some degree of confidentiality included in its processes.

“This bill seeks to bring a transparent legal structure into being and to establish an accountable framework in respect of the agency itself and those who will man and comprise the agency, and to say clearly how the agency will be funded,” he noted.

On the passage of the legislation, the agency would be subject to parliamentary oversight, as annual reports of its work will be laid in the National Assembly.

Outlining the functions of the agency, the bill provides that it will collect information ‘of national intelligence and security that will provide a basis for decision-making and preventive action and conducting analysis of the information’.

The functions also include providing intelligence and security advice to the president, cabinet members and other entities in the security sector. “This country requires an agency of this type on a firm legal footing. The direction in which we are going economically as a country, the growth of our economy, and the expansion of our fiscal sector, require an agency like this. As the economy grows, national security and the capability of the state to protect its citizens and assets within the state must proportionally improve,” the Attorney General said.

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Anil Nandlall, Attorney General, Gail Teixeira, Minister of Legal Affairs, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, SC

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