THREE bills were yesterday afternoon passed unanimously in the National Assembly after virtually none of the usual verbal sparring and heckling inherent in every sitting of the House.

However, both the People’s National Congress Reform and the Alliance For Change managed to deliver a number of recommendations on two of the bills, the Occupational Safety and Health (Amendment) Bill, and the Money Transfer Licensing Bill, most of which were received amicably by the ruling side of the House.

Delivering the second reading of the Occupational Safety and Health (Amendment) Bill, Minster of Labour Manzoor Nadir pointed out that the present amendments to the principal Act of 1997 are representative of his Ministry’s programme to make work places safer and healthier.

He stated that just a few years ago, the OSH department within the Labour Ministry was a relatively small operation, but over the past few years he and his predecessor, had sought to strengthen its capacity to conduct OSH inspections in work places.

Minister Nadir added that this was significantly boosted with the strengthening of the department with help from Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the recruitment of more staff, and improvement of the technical capacity of OSH staff.

Pointing to recent reported cases of workers being injured or, in other cases, losing their lives at their work places, the Minister stated that these incidents could have been avoided with better OSH practices.

AFC Member of Parliament, Everall Franklin, expressed his party’s support of the amended Bill and made a number of recommendations.

He suggested that more attention be paid to the monitoring of the importation of safety equipment, some of which is very inferior and could pose a threat to life and limb.

He also made mention of the taxation on safety gear, which, he posited, should be looked at by the Government, as some are now more expensive since introduction of VAT.

Minister Nadir, before requesting the third reading of the Bill, accepted the recommendations put forth by the AFC and assured that his Ministry is presently endeavouring to have the issue of the importation of proper safety gear for use in work places looked at.

The second Bill put forth was the Holidays with Pay (Amendment) Bill 2009, which was read again by Labour Minister Nadir and was also passed without contention by the Assembly.

That Bill, according to Nadir seeks to ensure that workers get their “just rewards” after serving their employers, explaining an adjustment to the Act which clarifies that the holiday that the Bill provides for now be changed to “annual leave holiday”

He however noted one issue which the Amended Bill will now stipulates, whereby employers, when taken to Court over non-payment of accruements to employees, are simply fined for breach by most Magistrates and are not ordered to pay the employees what is owed them.

Nadir stated that the amended section of the Bill now makes it very clear that that is one of the decisions that the Magistrate has to make.

Meanwhile, the Money Transfer Licensing Bill 2008 was read for the third time by Minister within the Minister of Finance, Jennifer Webtser in the absence of Senior Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, and passed by the Assembly.

The Bill seeks to make administration for the provision of operational and legal framework for the conduct of business and money transfer and for the registering of money transfer agencies.

Webster posited that the Bill is aimed at improving transparency, accountability and good governance as it relates to the operations of money transfer agencies.

She noted that during the deliberations by the special select committee, consultations were held with stakeholders, one such being Grace Kennedy Remittance Services Guyana Limited, and their views to the Bill considered as these agencies play a key role in the mobilisation of foreign currency in the country.

Webster added that inward remittances have become a very important flow for foreign exchange within Guyana, and in light of the importance of money transfer agents within the Guyanese economy, the Bill seeks to ensure that operators of these businesses are effectively regulated. It also sets the Central Bank up as the principal regulatory authority of licensing conditions and suspensions, revocation and rights for these agencies.

The Central Bank will now have an improved set of information based on a more systematic selection of data on which to be able to better assess the scope and extent of these agencies and their economic impact on Guyana’s economy, she noted, pointing out that this will serve to better inform key policy decisions taken by Government.

Meanwhile, the anticipated Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill 2009 was presented for the first time by Local Government Minister, Kellewan Lall, and was referred to a special select committee upon request.

Lall asked the House that the matter be given top priority and be dealt with expeditiously, bearing in mind the upcoming Local Government Elections.