Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs says that he will be seeking legal advice on the sending of Bills and other material to the Attorney General following approval by the National Assembly after criticisms that doing so was “inappropriate.”
APNU spokesman on Finance Carl Greenidge, in a recent letter to Isaacs, had urged the relocation of the Parliamentary Counsel from the chambers of the AG and had also echoed criticisms that sending Bills and other material to the AG for advice after approval by the National Assembly is inappropriate. “It is neither a legal nor constitutional requirement,” he had said.
“I am seeking legal advice on this matter,” said Isaacs when contacted by Stabroek News on Friday in relation to Greenidge’s recommendations. “I advised the Speaker that I will be seeking legal advice,” he said. Speaker of the House, Raphael Trotman declined comment when contacted by Stabroek News.
The role of the AG after Bills have been passed by the National Assembly has been the subject of debate recently and Greenidge urged Isaacs to reconsider the procedure currently employed for the submission of Bills to the President to be signed into law saying that it is the Clerk’s obligation and responsibility to dispatch the Bill to the President and it is for the President to secure the timely advice of his AG and anyone else he deems fit within the time limit stipulated for his consideration of the Bill and its signature.
Earlier, the long-serving Clerk had said that during his tenure he had never submitted any bill for presidential assent without an “assent certificate” from the AG.
In a letter in response to concerns by Greenidge about two bills in his name passed by the National Assembly but not receiving the assent of the President, Isaacs had explained that in the absence of Legal Counsel in the Parliament Office, all bills are sent to the AG’s Chambers to ensure that they are properly drafted before they are submitted to the President for assent. “I have never submitted any bill to the President without an assent certificate from the Attorney General,” Isaacs, who has served as Clerk for more than 10 years, wrote in the letter. The explanation came even as AG Anil Nandlall said that it has been parliamentary convention for his office to certify bills passed by the National Assembly for presidential assent, while he rubbished suggestions by attorney Christopher Ram that he has no role in the process.
The two opposition bills recently passed by the National Assembly were the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amend-ment) Bill and the Former Presidents (Benefits and Other Facilities) Bill 2012. Nandlall had said that they were at his chambers receiving attention.
In his letter to Isaacs, Greenidge urged the Clerk and the Speaker to further examine the Standing Orders “and the changed context in which we operate today relative to when the practice you outline was first instituted.”
