Two weeks on… Speaker still to write Pres. Ramotar on the non-assented Bills

September 8, 2013, By KNews, Filed Under News, Source

While continued efforts made by this publication to contact Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman, proved futile, it is understood that he is still to write the President on the four stalled Local Government Bills.

House Speaker, Raphael Trotman

Two Fridays ago, Trotman confirmed his intention to write President Donald Ramotar concerning his non-assent to the four Local Government Bills that have been unanimously passed in the National Assembly. He said that he had to discuss his intentions with the Clerk of the National Assembly before taking action.

However, Kaieteur News understands that more than a week after that confirmation, Trotman is still to carry out the task.  The only development learnt of by this newspaper is that Trotman is now to attach the four Bills to his letter to the President. So essentially, the Bills will go from the Speaker to the President, directly.

The constitution has provided the President with a 21-day period to assent to a Bill. The President has to act on or before those allotted days have elapsed. He has the right to withhold his assent and return it to the National Assembly. If a Bill is not assented to, it remains ineffective.

The four Bills that currently remain ineffective are critical for the holding of Local Government elections. Quite a few politicians on the opposition’s side have expressed the opinion that the government is stalling the movement to avoid “reform.”

The government of the day has been in power since 1992. Nineteen years after the last Local Government Elections was held in Guyana, the National Assembly, on August 7, approved a suite of legislations to pave the way for a fresh round of elections.

The House approved the Fiscal Transfers Bill, the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill and the Local Government Commission Bill. This was after a 12-year period of attempting to reform the process.

The 21-day constitutional mandated for the President to take actions on these Bills have long elapsed. It is now the 38th day since the piece of legislation has been passed in the National Assembly.

Word is that the Bills are still sitting in the office of the Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, for some form of accreditation, something that is not constitutionally prescribed.

President, Donald Ramotar

It is still not clear why the Parliament administration sends Bills to the AG in light of the fact that it is not constitutionally required.

The argument regarding the power the AG has with regards to Bills having to pass through him for his “input” before it reaches the President is an old one.

The opposition had maintained that the AG is not mandated to “inspect” Bills after they were passed in the law making entity. However, Nandlall’s take is that he is merely following the actions of his predecessors and doing something that he said was the norm since the PNC era.

Yesterday, Nandlall said that he is overseas and is therefore not in a position to speak about the very Bills that are said to be in his care.  However the AG gave all assurance that he will provide an update once he arrives on local soil.