Urging that they put aside differences to arrive at “consensual” goals, Chairman of Parliament’s Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform, Attorney General Anil Nandall SC last week told the body that they must work together if they truly need reform to key articles.
“The only item on the agenda was to devise a work programme on how the committee should proceed with its mandate. I informed the committee that by its very nature, constitutional reform is necessarily a consensual process; since no serious reform can take place unless the two major parties are in agreement,” Nandall told Stabroek News yesterday when asked for an update on the committee.
“In those circumstances, I expect, that the work of the committee, if we are to achieve anything, will have to be consensual,” he added.
The Chairman said that at the meeting, the second since the body was formed last December, the only item on the agenda was to devise a work programme on how the committee should proceed with its mandate.
The other members of the committee are Priya Manickchand, Charles S Ramson, Sonia Parag and Sanjeev Datadin for the PPP/C and Khemraj Ramjattan, Raphael Trotman, Amanza Walton-Desir and Nicolette Henry for APNU+AFC.
During the luncheon interval of the Thursday sitting of the National Assembly, which was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the group discussed how they would begin.
“I requested the Clerk of Committees to provide us with an update of the work of the last committee so that we can be guided by work done in that committee. The Clerk of Committees promised that would be done and distributed to each committee member. And upon receipt, a date will be fixed for another meeting,” Nandlall informed.
Late last month, Nandlall had told this newspaper that this country’s citizenry can expect changes they need and proposed by the end of this PPP/C Government’s term in office.
Underscoring that the process will be a “people driven” one, he said that he does not want to pronounce on specific deliverables but the nation can be assured that the committee will work tirelessly to ensure the changes proposed by the majority are made.
“The PPP is delivering its promise to, as the occupant of the seat of government, to facilitate and resource the process. We have to wait to see and know what the people want. That is what we promised,” he had said.
Soon after the PPP/C took office last year, Nandlall had outlined the legislative agenda for his ministry and said that reform of the election laws and constitution were high on the agenda.
He had told the National Assembly that his ministry will spearhead wide-ranging reforms, including legislative reforms to the electoral process to make it “stronger, more transparent, more accountable and to ensure that it is manned by persons of high integrity and professional ethics, so as to prevent the electoral machinery from being hijacked by political fraudsters, who cannot win government through the will of the people.”
