Attorney General Anil Nandlall yesterday justified his involvement in advising the President on whether to assent to Bills passed in the National Assembly and cited Article 112 of the Constitu-tion which empowers him as the state’s legal advisor.
He was speaking at a party press conference held at the PPP/C Headquarters, Free-dom House, Robb Street.
Asked under which constitutional article he as Attorney General is empowered to advise the President on Bills passed in the National Assembly, Nandlall said Article 112 states that the Attorney General is the principal legal advisor to the government.
“As part of my job as the principal legal advisor to the Government of Guyana of which the President is a central feature, I am entitled and empowered to advise all my comrades here. Under the State Liability Act, I am also the legal representative of the entire state apparatus,” he said. “In short, the amalgam of all these legal provisions conclusively places in the hands of the Attorney General the remit to advise every single government function in matters related to law
In a recent letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Carl Greenidge of APNU said that it is neither a legal or constitutional requirement that Bills must go to the Attorney General’s Chambers prior to being sent to the President for assent. He urged the Clerk to reconsider the procedure currently employed. The Clerk in a comment to this newspaper some weeks ago said he has never submitted a Bill to the President for assent without first sending it to the Attorney General’s Chambers.
Standing Order 65 (2) provides that where a Bill is passed by the National Assembly the Speaker has the power to “correct any patent errors and make such other changes in the Bill as are consequential upon the amendments accepted by the [National] Assembly.”
Standing Order 67 provides that the Bill remains in the “custody of the Clerk of the National Assembly who shall, subject to Article 164 of the Constitution at the earliest opportunity, submit the Bill to the President for his or her assent and the President shall assent in accordance with Article 170 of the Constitution.”
Further, Article 170 (2) of the Constitution of Guyana requires the President, who is part of Parliament, to assent to Bills presented to him following passage in the National Assembly. It said too that where the President withholds his assent, he must return the Bill to the Speaker within 21 days with a message stating the reasons for withholding his assent.
