The Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill 2014 has not yet reached the President’s desk, says Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall, who added that he is waiting on word on whether he should give the proposed legislation an assent or non-assent certificate.
The bill was passed in the National Assembly on February 10th and its provisions, by virtue of an amendment by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) MP and Shadow Local Govern-ment Minister Ronald Bulkan, states that local government elections be held by August 1st 2014.
The bill brought by the government would have required that local government elections be held by or before December 1st 2014. APNU though, argued that local government elections have been delayed enough and insisted on their amendment. The bill was eventually passed with Bulkan’s amendment.
Since being passed though, the bill has not seen the president’s desk. National Assembly Clerk Sherlock Isaacs had told Stabroek News that the bill had been sent off to the president, but yesterday Nandlall said that the bill is being scrutinized by his chambers.
Furthermore, Nandlall said that he is waiting on the president to instruct him on whether to give the bill an assent or non-assent certificate. He continued that these procedures have to be completed before the bill engages the president’s attention for him to decide whether or not to sign it into law.
It is uncertain what aspect of the bill needs further scrutiny. Nandlall’s description of the status of the bills mirrors those that the President refused to assent to and this has deepened calls for Parliament to have its own legal counsel so that bills from the House can go directly to the President and not have to go via the AG’s Chambers.
The bill belongs to government, having been brought by former Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud. Usually, government enlists the services of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel when drafting bills to ensure the content of said bills are in keeping with existing legislation.
The amendment made by Bulkan may be the bone of contention but since Bulkan’s amendment dealt only with the changing of the date by which local government elections needs to be held, the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill 2014 does not clash with existing laws.
Since the bill is still with the AG’s chambers, the 21 days by which the President is required to assent to or reject a bill have not started based on previous arguments by the government though others say that that period begins from the moment the bill is dispatched by Parliament office. Guyana’s constitution gives President Donald Ramotar 21 days within which to assent to the bill. If he refuses he must return the bill, accompanied by a letter giving an explanation of why he withheld his assent.
A similar situation occurred last year. Following the passage of four local government bills – the Local Government Commission Bill, the Fiscal Transfers Bill, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill and the Municipal and District Council’s (Amendment) Bill – deemed essential to the holding of local government elections, they were sent to the AG’s chambers instead of to the President’s office. The bills stayed with the AG’s chambers for more than two months before they were sent to the President. Ramotar signed only three of the bills, refusing to sign the Local Government (Amendment) Bill due the “unconstitutional” nature of some of its provisions.
The Government of Guyana, through various representatives, including Minister within the Local Government Ministry, Norman Whittaker, has maintained that local government elections cannot be held by August 1st. A contributing factor to the lack of readiness, Whittaker has said, is that the Guyana Elections Commission is not ready to hold the elections. However, several Gecom officials, including Steve Surujbally, its Chairman, have explicitly iterated Gecom’s readiness.
