By Ravin Singh

THE report that is likely to pave the way for the long overdue constitutional reform to come into force later this year was yesterday handed over to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.

Loosely referred to as the Constitutional Reform Report, the document was delivered to the PM at his office by Convener and Chairman of the Constitutional Reform Steering Committee (CRSC), Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes.

The committee was established last August to draft a work programme and make recommendations for constitutional reform, a process for which repeated calls have been made.
The committee was comprised of Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes; former Director of Transparency International, Attorney-at-law Gino Persaud; Professor Harold Lutchman; former magistrate Geeta Chandan-Edmond; and former chief economist at the Central Bank, the late Haslyn Parris.

The APNU+AFC Coalition had lobbied relentlessly for constitutional reform, and had made it a major platform issue during its pre-election campaign.

MAJOR CHANGES
The Coalition had touted major changes to the governance structure, including separate elections to elect a President and National Assembly members; the capping of presidential powers; and changes to the composition of service commissions, among other reforms.
As such, the CRSC was established by the Sub-committee on Parliamentary Affairs, and was mandated to report to the Prime Minister, who is Chair of the Parliamentary Affairs Sub-committee.

Last December, as was prescribed, the Committee submitted its preliminary report, which was examined by Nagamootoo. The final report was to have been handed in by March of this year, but the sudden death of one of the members of the committee – Mr Haslyn Parris — caused the formality to be somewhat deferred.

Former Head of the Law Department at the University of Guyana, Sheldon McDonald, who was also supporting the committee in its work, also passed away last year.

NEW TIMEFRAME
The new expected timeframe for the report’s submission was set for June, as was announced by the PM in the National Assembly earlier this year. So it must have come as somewhat of a surprise when Hughes, along with some of the other members of the committee, handed it over yesterday to the PM, who is also the Leader of Government’s business in the National Assembly.

Speaking briefly during the handing over, Hughes noted that he could not disclose the contents of the report, but he said it is a framework of the pathway for the proposed Constitution Reform Commission, which he hopes will be established shortly.

He explained that the committee met regularly on Fridays, and that it is pleased to have produced a final product which could be handed to the PM for him to take the process forward.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Appreciative of the efforts of the members of the commission, the convener singled them out, specifically identifying the two who are now deceased.

“I want to acknowledge and pay homage to two of the members of our team that we lost along the way,” Hughes said. “First is Sheldon McDonald, who died last year, and was a critical support member of this committee; and Haslyn Parris, whom we lost recently. Both of their contributions have been invaluable, and we would like to acknowledge their contribution and thank them for it,” he added.

In response, the PM likewise expressed his appreciation for the contributions of all members of the commission, but particularly underscored the roles of Parris and McDonald.

He also acknowledged the supportive role played by Professor Duke Pollard, who once served on the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

He further explained that the completion of this phase of the process will guide Government in the direction it has to go, and provide a scope within which the constitutional reform process should take place.

Noting that the coalition had placed high on its agenda the issue of constitutional reform, the PM said he hopes that the guidance contained in the final report would give the Government enough time and space in which to achieve the areas identified for reform.

He also committed to reading the report later in the day, and identifying what is needed to take the process forward.

As Chairman of the Parliamentary Affairs Sub-committee, Nagamooto will report to that committee the recommendations in the Constitutional Reform Report, and that sub-committee will then report to Cabinet. Thereafter, a constitutional reform commission will come on stream, and it is this committee which will effect the changes to the Constitution.