Apologizing for the delays in the setting up of the constitutional reform body more than one year after the Bill was passed in the National Assembly, President Irfaan Ali has assured that the processes onward will be swift and will commence next week.
“The President assures that the Constitutional Reform Commis-sion will be appointed in the shortest possible time. We apologize for the delay,” Attorney General Anil Nandall told Stabroek News yesterday when contacted on the matter.
He attributed the delays to government’s focus on dealing with Venezuela’s aggression, which came at a time concurrent with his government’s timeline for the requisite processes to be triggered.
“The delay had to do with the distraction with matters connected to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country, but he [the President] has given firm instructions to the attorney general to dispatch the letters to the relevant persons and agencies inviting their nominations in accordance with, the constitutional reform commission act,” he said
“The Attorney General has confirmed that he has received such instructions from the President and will be writing the respective agencies within the next few days in order to ensure that the consultative process begins in accordance with the Constitutional Reform Commission Act,” he added.
In late August, Nandlall had assured this newspaper that the President was committed to the swearing in of the Commission before the ending of September, once all the organisations submit their representatives.
It is unclear why this process was not expedited prior to the National Assembly going into its annual recess in early September.
Letters of invitation for respective nominees were to be dispatched by the end of August, Nandlall had said.
This newspaper had also reached out to Advisor to the President on constitutional reform, Randolph Persaud, to find out about the process thus far and to get an update. He in turn referred this newspaper to Nandlall, informing that the Attorney General was responsible for the legal processes for having new laws. It is unclear what work Persaud has been doing since his appointment months ago.
In February of this year, Nandlall had said that the PPP/C cannot force any changes to the laws of this country on citizens and therefore the constitutional reform process will see suggestions for legislative changes from across the country.
And if inclusive governance is to be one of those laws, then it will be from a recommendation made by the people and for the people, he reasoned, underscoring that consultations by the Constitutional Reform Commission will be inclusive for all citizens of this country.
He was at the time responding to former Speaker of the National Assembly and one-time PPP executive member, Ralph Ramkarran, who lamented the sloth in starting the process and said that the PPP/C fulfilling a promise in its manifesto to have constitutional reform was useless, if changes doesn’t see inclusive governance.
“The institutions which have been created, such as the constitutional commissions and the sectoral parliamentary committees, are not functioning either at all or optimally. Article 13 of the Constitution that provides for consultation is not functionally implemented. The problem, therefore, outside of inclusive governance, is not the constitution, but implementation of its provisions. Other matters provided for in the act are more appropriately dealt with by legislation,” Ramkarran had written in his Conversation Tree blog.
Not sufficient
He posited, “Fulfilling a manifesto promise to implement constitutional reform is not sufficient unless that promise includes the purpose or reason for the promise, namely, inclusive governance. It must be assumed that when the PPP/C made the promise in its Manifesto, it was of the view that inclusive governance was not provided for in the Constitution and reform was necessary to include it… it is expected, therefore, that notwithstanding the questionable omission in which the process is going to be conducted, that inclusive governance will be a major issue in the constitution reform process, as it is in the PPP/C’s Manifesto.”
On the issue of Constitutional Reform, the PPP/C in its 2020-2025 manifesto, had outlined its plans.
“Ensuring people’s participation in revising the Supreme Law of our land. We are aware that issues concerning constitutional reform, particularly in relation to a national, inclusive governance model, management of elections, fiduciary accountability, enhancing rights of Guyanese and ensuring constitutional language, is simple, and have been raised and discussed in the public domain. However, we believe that these, as well as other issues, must be part of a process of widespread consultation with the people of Guyana before being acted upon. The extensive changes to our Constitution under the PPP/C followed such a process,” the manifesto states.
“Moving forward, we are committed to continuous revision of the Constitution. In this regard, we will ensure that the Committee on Constitutional Reform that will advance the work will pursue nationwide consultation following the model used in the past, that is, with half of the members from civil society and equal representation from Government and the Opposition,” it adds.
However, more than three years later, the PPP/C is yet to deliver on this process despite President Ali’s assertion that the party has fulfilled most of its manifesto promises.
The Constitution Reform Bill was passed in the National Assembly on November 7 last year and the expectation had been that the government would move swiftly to begin the process though political commentators had suggested that it had no intention of having any reforms implemented before the next general elections.
The bill, according to its explanatory memorandum, provides for the establishment of the Constitution Reform Commis-sion (CRC), its membership and terms of reference. It added that the membership of the proposed commission is diverse and the terms of reference and powers are broad enough to ensure that the process is conducted in a consultative manner.
According to the bill, the CRC shall consist of 20 members to be appointed by the President. The ruling PPP/C is expected to nominate five members, APNU+AFC four and the list joinder of LJP, ANUG and TNM is entitled to nominate one member. Addi-tionally, the Bar Association, Labour Movement, National Toshaos Council, private sector, women’s organisations, youth organisations, farmers and each of the three major religions are all entitled to one seat each on the Commission. The bill provides for the President, acting in accordance with his own deliberate judgement, to appoint a Chair of the Commission. The commission is entitled to elect the deputy chairperson.
Clause 7 of the bill provides that in order to execute the objectives of the legislation, the Commission shall review the Constitution of Guyana, to provide for the current and future rights, duties, liabilities and obligations of the Guyanese people. In furtherance of that purpose, it shall receive, consider and evaluate submissions for the alteration of the Constitution and report its recommendations to the Standing Committee for transmission to the National Assembly.
In conducting the review of the Constitution, the Commis-sion shall consider inter alia, the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Guyanese, the rights of women, children and the Indigenous people, improving race relations and promoting ethnic security and equal opportunity and reforms relating to elections.
Additionally, the Commission shall ensure that the views of minorities in the decision-making process and in the conduct of government are given due consideration. Further, the Commission shall consult with the widest possible geographical area, with as many persons, groups, communities, organisations and institutions as possible, including youth organisations, high school and university students, the private sector, professional bodies and the media.
After concluding its work, the Commission shall prepare a report, giving details of its recommendations and the reasons for those recommendations in a clear and comprehensive manner to enable the Constitution to be reformed and that report shall be submitted to the National Assembly.
Clause 8 provides that the Commission shall have the privileges and immunities of the National Assembly while clauses 9 to11 deal with the administrative and technical support that will be implemented to enable the Commission to carry out its mandate in a timely and efficient manner.
The Commission will submit its report to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Constitutional Reform. The Committee is chaired by Nandlall and includes Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand; Minister of Public Service, Sonia Parag; Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr; and parliamentarian Sanjeev Datadin from the government side of the National Assembly. Aubrey Norton, Khemraj Ramjattan, Raphael Trotman, and Amanza Walton-Desir will represent the opposition side.
Nandlall this week assured that traction on getting the process started would swift, as the PPP is a government that keeps its promises and this was one of them.
“The Attorney General has made it very clear that there is no intention on the part of the government to delay this process as we have promised constitutional reform and our government has every intention to deliver on this promise,” Nandlall asserted.
