A bill to amend the Evidence Act, which has been awaiting passage since the middle of last year, seeks to expand the types of documents which can be tendered as evidence.
The Evidence (Amendment) Bill was snared last June in the row in Parliament over bills tabled in the name of Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee. The bill has since been brought back before the House and was to have its second and third readings on December 19. It was however deferred as there had been lengthy arguments on two other bills at that session.
The bill amends Section 43 of the Principal Act which allows the tendering of a certificate or report signed or purported to be signed by an analyst stating that he has analysed or examined a finger print; a firearm or ammunition; a poisonous and noxious substance; a local or foreign currency; human blood; bone or tissue and fuel or a fuel-based substance.
The bill would also broaden the definition of an analyst. The term analyst would now mean a government analyst, an assistant government analyst, a radiologist, a government bacteriologist and pathologist, a scientific officer of the Guyana Police Force “or any other qualified person that the minister may by order prescribe”.
