Dear Editor,
Please permit me to go on public record to state that Parliament erred in passing the Fugitive Offenders (Amendment) Bill on Friday 22nd October, 2009. Parliament cannot pass a law to state that the house fly has eight legs and therefore, henceforth, all house flies would have eight legs.
The law officers of the state continue to offer poor advice. In view of our relationship with the U.S.A, it is our international obligation to facilitate extradition. But this must be done in a lawful manner.
It is not that the Parliamentarians are without advice on the issue. All they have to do is read the Full Court decision delivered by Chief Justice (Ag), Ian Chang, in the Barry Dataram matter and the opinion offered by Mr. Garlick.
I rather suspect that the opinion of Mr. Garlick, which was made available to me by a patriotic party, was never brought to the attention of the Honourable President.
I respectfully urge the Honourable President not to assent to the Bill, obtain proper and competent legal advice (the present has patently failed) and then rectify the extradition arrangements between Guyana and the U.S.A to avoid further embarrassment to the Government and People of Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
V. V. Puran
Attorney-at-law