The two Bills passed by the opposition remain stalled at the Attorney-General’s chambers with AG Anil Nandlall yesterday saying that his position two weeks ago that they are with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel was unchanged.
“As far as I am aware, they are still with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel,” Nandlall told Stabroek News about two weeks ago. The bills are the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Bill and the Former Presidents (Benefits and Other Facilities) Bill 2012. Nandlall would not comment further yesterday.
Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs had told Stabroek News last week that he would be seeking legal advice on the sending of Bills and other material to the Attorney General following approval by the National Assembly after this was criticised as inappropriate.
The role of the AG after Bills have been passed by the National Assembly has been the subject of debate and APNU spokesman on Finance Carl Greenidge had recently urged the relocation of the Chief 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.
Greenidge had 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.
