GHRA wants constitutional reform before SARA Bill is passed
Parliament building
Parliament building

THE Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) is of the view that in order for the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) Bill to be successful in Guyana, there needs to be constitutional reform.The bill is slated for debate in the National Assembly in October and if passed, will see the State Asset Recovery Unit (SARU) become an agency, the State Asset Recovery agency (SARA) which will make the body’s operation more efficient. But the GHRA believes that the constitution is in need of overhauling before the bill can be made operational.

The Association in a statement on Tuesday welcomed the debate and public comment on the Bill, but explained that much of it seemed to be focused on the technical aspects. But according to the GHRA, the Association is more concerned about the consequences of putting the Bill into effect with Guyana’s current political environment.

According to the GHRA, “Our current constitutional and legal systems in which the SARA Bill will operate have been fundamentally flawed since the 1978 Constitution was approved by a turn-out of 14% of the population. No amount of tinkering and prevarication can disguise its deformity.”

The Association further pointed out that the Constitution was fashioned to reflect the powers accumulated in the hands of the then President Forbes Burnham.

“Despite avowals about constitutional reform since 1992, succeeding Governments could never embrace the uncertainty this implied. Dr. Jagan’s appeal to his personal integrity, i.e. that the excessive powers were safe in his hands, has become a mantra for subsequent Presidents. The Constitutional Reform Commission recommendations of the late ‘90s were largely axed by the Parliamentary Oversight Committee (under the chairmanship of the current Prime Minister), reflecting a disturbing capacity of Parliamentarians to suppress reforms aimed at weakening the over-weaning powers of the Presidency to their own benefit.”

The statement further noted that the legitimacy of the SARA Bill rests on ignoring the structural deformity of Parliament since no Parliamentarian can challenge the Bill (from the Government side) nor welcome it (from the opposition side) without risking expulsion from Parliament by their party leader.

“The Government is not seeking all-party support on the merit of the Bill but is relying instead on its Parliamentary majority – a power struggle without politics. Instead of mechanisms to ensure moderation, candidates for the Directorship of SARA are required to possess the qualities of sainthood, essentially the same argument used by Dr. Jagan.”

It was noted that the GHRA has issued numerous statements and organized several civic coalitions since the mid-1990s calling for constitutional reform of the electoral and parliamentary processes.

“In light of this experience, the GHRA has no realistic expectations that the current incumbents will go further than their predecessors without sustained civic and public pressure. Our releases and our actions will continue to be focused in this direction.”

The Association had previously expressed concern about the powers which SARA has.

“The sweeping powers available to the Director of the Agency and the manner of his or her appointment” is of great concern to the GHRA. Relative to the powers, the GHRA believes that the Commissioner of Police, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Head of Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), the Bank of Guyana, private banks, and the Chairperson of the Guyana Gold Board are just a few public and private entities that are required to comply with the requests of the Director of SARA.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Legal Affairs hosted a public consultation on the draft State Assets Recovery Bill at the Pegasus Hotel.
The draft bill aims to recover unlawfully acquired state assets from public officers past and present through civil proceedings, and is in consonance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
The Bill stipulates the functions of SARA to include investigating whether state property was obtained through unlawful conduct involving a public official or any other person and the tracing and identifying of property wherever situated, suspected to be state property obtained from unlawful conduct involving a public official or any other person.

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