President David Granger yesterday announced his administration’s upcoming legislative agenda, which includes the delinking of the immigration department from the Guyana Police Force.
In an address to the National Assembly that was boycotted by the opposition PPP/C, Granger also revealed that next year the government would begin negotiations with national and international parties to build a bridge across the Essequibo River.
The president, who suggested that the opposition might still be in recess, used his speech to address a number of initiatives, which he said would result in Guyanese experiencing the “good life” that has been the mantra of his administration. A significant portion of the speech was also spent on listing the failings of the previous administration. While the opposition boycotted the speech over the President’s announcement that he would suspend Carvil Duncan from the Chairmanship of the Public Service Commission and as a member of other constitutional bodies, its leader Bharrat Jagdeo later described the address as a “desecration” of the National Assembly’s Chambers.
Jagdeo, speaking later at a press conference, said the president spoke as if he were speaking the day after he won the elections.
Speaking in the presence of members of the diplomatic corps, heads of the security forces and other public officials, Granger said that his government’s legislative agenda is aimed at correcting the aberrations of the past and will protect the interests of Guyanese by strengthening Guyana’s legal architecture.
Towards this end, he said the administration would seek to improve the efficacy and efficiency of the immigration services by tabling the Immigration (Amendment) Bill to delink the immigration department from the Guyana Police Force.
Also on the agenda is the National Registration (Amendment) Bill, which will seek to guard against identity theft by allowing the inclusion of the biometrics of citizens to be recorded on their national registration.
Jagdeo later said that the announcement of the two proposed changes immediately caused him to become “worried” and repeated his party’s claim that the government is seeking to find ways to rig elections in the future by controlling immigration and registration of births. “Ominous” was the word he used to describe the situation and he later noted that the opposition was not consulted on the plans.
Also on the legislative agenda of the administration is the amendment of the Integrity Commission Act, which will provide for a revised Code of Conduct for public officials. The coalition government had promised that it would have established a code of conduct for its ministers and other officials within a 100 days of being elected but since then a code that was made public was refined and now is to come under the Integrity Commission Act.
The State Assets Recovery Bill is also on the agenda and this will result in a State Asset Recovery Agency “to recover property that has been unlawfully acquired, through civil proceedings.”
The other bills to be tabled include the Witness Protection Bill, the Protected Disclosures Bill, referred to as the ‘Whistleblowers Bill,’ the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority (Amendment) Bill, the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation Bill, the Industrial Relations Tribunal Bill, an amendment of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation Act, an amendment to the Road Act, and an amendment to the Marriage Act to put new procedures in place for non-nationals applying for a special marriage certificate. The delayed Tobacco Control Bill is also on the agenda.
Security
Granger also addressed security and assured that his administration intends to make Guyana safe for the current and future generations.
“We will do so not only combatting crime and criminals but in uprooting the causes of crime and its links with transnational crime,” he said.
He noted that the National Security Committee has been established and the new National Anti-Narcotics Agency (NANA) is being set up to address trafficking in narcotics, which he described again as the “mother of all crimes.” The National Intelligence and Security Agency, he noted, will also be established to ensure better surveillance of the country’s borders and coasts.
The United Kingdom, Granger reported, will also be re-engaged with a view of restoring the aborted Security Sector Reform Action Plan (SSRAP), which will see government getting help to craft a national security response to domestic and transnational crime, including narcotics-trafficking and gun-running. “Aerial surveillance over the maritime zone over the past year led to a reduction in the incidence of piracy. We will continue to augment the Guyana Police Force’s Marine Branch,” he also said.
He added that as the force’s capacity is expanded, its Mounted Branch will be expanded to enable it to conduct patrols in the savannahs and backdams, which are not easily accessible by vehicular patrols. He also noted that a corps of wardens will enforce the law with regard to mining, logging, hunting wildlife and trafficking in persons in the hinterland.
Infrastructure
Meanwhile, apart from negotiations to commence the building of a bridge over the Essequibo River, Granger said the government will continue to advance initiatives for climate adaptation in the next year. As a result, a programme to bolster and better manage and maintain the country’s sea defences will be developed with the country’s international partners. Improvement of the country’s aerodromes, bridges, roads and stellings, he said, will intensify in order to enhance communication between the hinterland and coastland. “We aim at improving the pace of economic development by removing bottlenecks to the implementation of infrastructural projects. Planning units will be established within ministries. National procurement procedures will be strengthened to address the institutional deficiencies which led to poor implementation and monitoring of public infrastructural projects,” he added.
And while contracts for public works remain a key concern, the President pointed out that the Bid Protest Committee has been established and has begun work. He noted that the Public Procurement Commission will also soon be brought into existence to improve the integrity of public procurement.
The government’s environmental policy will also move apace, according to Granger, who said that the ‘green agenda’ is not limited narrowly to low-carbon initiatives but is a more broad-based development programme. This programme involves the management of the country’s unique biodiversity, management of its vulnerable coastal zone and valuable protected areas, and the management of solid waste and sanitation.
In the area of public telecommunications, he said that the government recently established the Ministry of Public Telecommunications and is proud of passing legislation which will allow for the further liberalisation and modernisation of Guyana’s telecommunication sector. Telecommunication services, he said, will extend to all ten regions.
He added that the e-governance programme will eventually network all government agencies and will facilitate efficient data-sharing between government agencies. “This network will then be extended to citizens so that they can access government services online. Information and communications technology (ICT) is integral to our ‘green agenda.’ It will become a major driver of economic diversification,” he said.
He also highlighted the One Laptop Per Teacher initiative that recently commenced.
Public Services
The importance of public services was underscored and Granger said that they must be accessible to every citizen and no one should have to leave his or her region in order to access them. As a consequence, he said the government will accelerate the decentralisation of such services alongside the development of ‘capital towns’ in 2017.
“The provision of quality public services is associated with enhancing the ‘quality of life’ of citizens. We are mindful of the need to improve public administration to make public services more accountable, accessible and affordable,” he added.
Granger also said his government has demonstrated its determination to ensure that local government elections were held and assured that they will continue to be held every three years.
“The derailment of public policy, marked by the previous administration’s bizarre determination not to conduct local government elections, by uprooting neighbourhood democratic councils and by imposing a perverse form of [dictatorship] on local government organs has been brought to an end,” he said.
However, he made no mention of when his government would establish the Local Government Commission, which will have supervisory powers over local government authorities that are now rooted in central government. Four timeframes have been given for the commission’s establishment but it is yet to become a reality even though it is only the government that is left to name its nominees.
