Return Engineers’ Bill to National Assembly – Mahipaul tells Govt.

Feb 23, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News- With the government withdrawing the controversial Engineer’s Bill from the National Assembly, Opposition Member of Parliament, Ganesh Mahipaul is calling on the government to have the Bill return to the House and placed before a Special Select Committee for thorough deliberations.

On Thursday, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that their concerns about the Bill’s provisions were raised by President Irfaan Ali.

“We believe that it was prematurely tabled. I am going to say that it was prematurely tabled It had nothing to do with the  opposition concerns, that is why we removed the bill from the Order Paper, ” Jagdeo told reporters.

Jagdeo said that the government believes that the bill should be dealt with in greater detail, as they want a bill that would enhance quality but would not become a humbug for persons practicing their craft.

“So that was the simple reason the President himself, long before this matter came up, he expressed some concern about that, but I think it may have been tabled before those concerns were expressed,” he explained.

Mahipaul, in a press release on Friday said that instead of withdrawing the Bill, the government should have sent it to a Special Select committee to be thoroughly scrutinized.

“With reference to the Engineers Bill, Bill No. 21 of 2024, we have learned that the bill was completely withdrawn from the National Assembly because, according to Vice President Jagdeo, it was prematurely tabled in the first place,” Mahipaul said.

He argued that from the outset the Opposition supported an Engineers’ Bill, as it is a piece of legislation that is needed and had been called for by the Guyana Association of Professional Engineers (GAPE) and the University of Guyana Faculty of Engineering and Technology (UG-FOE&T).

Mahipaul said that when a Bill is tabled, it must first be rigorously debated before it is approved by the Cabinet (Executive arm of government). As a result, he said it is clear that Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill was given the all-clear to table the proposed legislation.

The Opposition MP said that having learnt that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said the Bill was tabled before its time means that Edghill was thrown “under the bus”.

“This is, in fact, the fourth time the bishop has been embarrassed and forced into silence,” Mahipaul said adding, “Notwithstanding, Jagdeo’s infantile attack on the Bishop, an action that appears driven by envy, ignores the fact that the Engineers Bill should have been referred to a Special Select Committee. In such a committee, the Government and Opposition could have worked together, as they did with the Single Windows Bill, and within one or at most two months, Guyana could have had an Engineers Bill passed unanimously by the National Assembly, awaiting the assent of the President.”

The MP said too that the current “inaction on bills in Special Select Committees is the result of a callous government that does not want to advance these legislative initiatives. The Engineers Bill should reflect contributions from all stakeholders and not merely the government’s perspective.”

He said that the amendments submitted by him and former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, were developed and decided upon after consultations were held with GAPE, UGFOE&T and a number of engineers internationally and domestically.

“I, therefore, call on the Cabinet to return the bill to the National Assembly and allow us, through a Special Select Committee, to craft a well-considered and comprehensive Engineers Bill that can be passed in the National Assembly in the shortest possible time,” Mahipaul urged.

On February 18, 2025 Kaieteur News reported that the debate of the controversial Engineer’s Bill has been deferred by the Government of Guyana amid concerns raised by the opposition.

Minister Edghill said that efforts are being made to address issues.

Kaieteur News reached out to Edghill for a comment, but he was unavailable. He was however quoted in the Demerara Waves saying: “There are a number of commentaries that I have received, as the custodian of the Bill, that I’m discussing with my colleagues and a course of action would be taken that is most appropriate to ensure that the concerns that are raised are weighed for their proper place, so I don’t think there will be a debate on the Bill…” he said.

(Return Engineers’ Bill to National Assembly – Mahipaul tells Govt.)

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• Bharrat Jagdeo, Engineer’s Bill, scrutinised, Select Committee, tabled

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