The National Assembly yesterday passed the Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 2009 without the support of the Opposition parties which cited lack of consultations and a troublesome clause that they deem a threat to those in the legal profession. After spirited debate on both sides, the Bill, whose report yesterday made its way out of the Special Select Committee, was read for a third time. The Bill, which aims to ensure that legal practitioners are properly licensed, was read for a first time on November 26, 2009. Consideration for the Bill was adjourned between November 26 and December 21, 2009, to allow for consultation. The Bill was read for a second time and debated on December 21, 2009.
In her introductory remarks in putting forward the motion for the adoption of the Select Committee report on the Bill, Chairperson of the Select Committee, Priya Manickchand, asked the House to support the legislation.
On rising to speak on the Bill, PNCR Parliamentarian Basil Williams stated that the PNCR could not support the Bill in the present form. He spoke of the lack of application of the raft of parliamentary reforms which speak to consultation within the Select Committee process. He said that the Select Committee system is broken, noting that there are rules in the form of the parliamentary standing orders that speak to the Select Committee process.
He said that under the chairmanship of Attorney General Charles Ramson, the Select Committee had no consultations. Ramson later stepped down as chairman of the Committee and Manickchand took his place.
Williams referred to “vicarious” consultations which came in the form of previous meetings on the merits of the legislation. He said that the PNCR saw no profit in continuing with the work of the committee.
Khemraj Ramjattan of the Alliance for Change said that his party has a problem with the clause which speaks of the GRA Commissioner General withholding practice certificates. He said that his party saw no need to participate in the Select Committee process and therefore did not. He said that with the legislation, the independence of the legal profession could be eroded.
One of the main legal spokespersons on the PPP/C side, Anil Nandlall, accused members of the Opposition of failing to discharge their obligations to their constituents by not being a part of the Select Committee process. This charge was also repeated by Minister Manickchand. On the charges of non-consultation, he said that the Bill was not sprung upon lawyers and that there were adequate consultations through the Guyana Bar Association and other bar associations.
He noted that the Bill was in circulation since May 2008, and from that time to August 2008, the Guyana Bar Association consulted on the Bill and made a written submission to the Committee. He said that the Association had even asked for more time to consider the legislation.
Manickchand accused Williams of trying to throw away the consultative work of the bar association and other bodies which met and deliberated on the legislation.