Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 10, 2014 News
By Kiana Wilburg
While Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman is concerned about the lack of a financial and analytical
support team for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and for other parliamentarians, in the form of a Budget Office, he has also expressed deep concern over the absence of a legal department for the National Assembly.
In a brief interview with this publication, Trotman said that based on “recent circumstances” it has become evident that the Parliament “is in desperate need of not just legal officers but a legal department. The Parliament is urgently in need of this, but it is being blocked by the Government.”
In support of Trotman’s points, General Secretary of the Alliance For Change (AFC), David Patterson, told this publication that the proceedings of the Tenth Parliament have demonstrated more than ever why the National Assembly should have its own legal department, for several reasons.
The first reason Patterson cited was to support the legal drafting of bills for all members, particularly Opposition members. Given the new dispensation, the AFC member stated that the Opposition members may be desirous of amending existing legislation or even drafting new bills, and such a process would require legal knowledge which not all Members of Parliament would have, and understandably so, since legal background is not a requirement of membership into the National Assembly.
He said that currently, the only State legal drafting unit is housed in the Ministry of Legal Affairs, which is under the direction of the Attorney General, Anil Nandlall. Patterson reminded that Nandlall on several occasions had stated that he would not be making his staff available for such purposes.
Patterson asserted that without a legal staff, the opposition has not been able to take full advantage of their majority, since any bill or motion had to be privately executed.
The second reason the AFC General Secretary highlighted was for research on legal matters. He believes that this is very important, and cited a prime example to justify this point. Patterson said that in the budget cut case, if such a department was in place, the political Opposition would have been able to do the necessary research, which would have guided the Parliament, as well as the Court.
“Thus, when the Attorney General took the Speaker to court, it would have been the Parliament’s legal department that would have been defending that case, since after all, they would be there for all legal matters,” Patterson added.
Another example the politician mentioned was that of the No-Confidence Motion, as well as other such bills and motions. The department, he said, would have also been able to provide guidance on this matter to both the Speaker and the Clerk of the National Assembly, thereby avoiding the public speculation on whether the No-Confidence Motion in its current format is legal or not.
His last point, which he believes also underscores the need for the Parliament to have a legal department is the matter of the ‘Assent Certificate’ to certain Bills by the Attorney General.
The AFC member told this newspaper that while in the Constitution there is no provision for review by Nandlall before the Clerk dispatches a bill to the President for assent, he reminded that the AG claimed that it was due to “a convention”.
“While the AG had claimed such, what is really happening is that he is stalling and delaying the process. However, if the Clerk of the National Assembly wants to reconfirm a legal issue before dispatch, instead of asking the AG Chambers, he would simply refer the bill to this department,” Patterson said.
He opined that Guyana may be the only Parliament in the Caribbean without such a department and the unwillingness of the Government to fund one, he said, is another prime example of its desire to control everything.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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