Dear Editor,
I have noticed a number of views being posited in the Stabroek News and Kaieteur News on the issue of the recent proclamation by the President, proroguing the National Assembly.
Several views have been expressed both on the legality and appropriateness of the proclamation. My own view is different, in that notwithstanding the legality or propriety of it, the effects of this proclamation are both serious and far reaching.
The effect of the issue of a proclamation proroguing the National Assembly, as opposed to the alternative of simply adjourning it, subject to its being reconvened by the Speaker, is to bring the parliamentary session then underway to an end. The consequence of this is that all of the Bills on the Order Paper that have not been dealt with, are said to have died on the Order Paper. In other words, they are said to have been quashed, and must be renewed at a subsequent session, as if they had never been introduced.
It has come to my attention that at the time of the making of the Proclamation the National Assembly had two Bills before it: The Telecommunications Reform Bill (by which the telecommunications landscape was to have been redrawn to encourage competition and growth), and the Anti-Money Laundering And Countering The Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill (which would make certain amendments to the Act that are apparently vital in this area).
I am reluctant to believe without cogent and compelling evidence to the contrary, that the President and the Cabinet are less than sincere in their commitment to the above-mentioned legislative measures. In the case of the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, President Ramotar has likened the situation to one where the sword of Damocles will descend on Guyana condignly if the Bill is not enacted forthwith. In similar vein, the Minister of Finance has been pessimistic on Guyana’s prospects for its financial well-being if the legislation is not enacted swiftly. And in the case of the Telecommunications Reform Bill, the Prime Minister and Leader of government business in the Assembly has stated the government’s commitment to modernizing the sector through this legislation.
In these circumstances, I can only surmise that the President, Mr Donald Ramotar was not properly advised when considering whether to issue the proclamation. Surely, the Attorney General ought to have known of the consequences for these bills, upon a prorogation?
Yours faithfully,
BTI Pollard, SC
