THE National Assembly Thursday approved the Official Gazette Bill No. 9 of 2012 which was published on June 29 last with an amendment which will now see the document being available online. Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Anil Nandlall moving the second reading of the bill before its approval in the Special Select Committee, said that this bill seeks to establish for the first time, a statutory footing for the Official Gazette and make that document more accessible to Guyanese and others by placing it online on a government website.
He added that when one looks and reflects upon the number of important notices and functions which are by law required to be published by the Official Gazette, it is a great travesty that it does not reach the ordinary citizen in a timely manner, or at all.
“This bill, in its second component, seeks to correct that omission…the other aspect that the bill seeks to address is a common problem known to all of us, as we receive regularly the complaint that the Official Gazette is not published on time, not available or easily accessible as it should be to the ordinary people,” the Legal Affairs Minister said.
He stated that there is a need to tread the technological path, as it is an accepted fact that the world is going in that direction; as such, unless Guyana implements policies, changes the structures and promulgates structures that ensure it is a part of that global trend, then it is likely to be left behind as a country.
“In putting this Official Gazette online, not only are we taking our development up a notch on the technological ladder, but we are resorting to a course that we are almost certain will improve the situation of non-accessibility,” Minister Nandlall explained.
Though it has been in place for centuries, it has never been the subject of legislation; moreso he said he could find no reason why this omission has existed for so long.
“The Official Gazette’s  presence and use of the legal system in our country dates back some 400 years…my research indicates that it would have been brought by the Dutch sometime during the 17th century…it has remained with us since…over those centuries its importance has not declined…it has increased,” Minister Nandlall explained.
Emphasising the importance of the document, the Legal Affairs Minister explained that one only has to examine the interpretation and general clauses Act Chapter 2:01, to glean the various pivotal functions which the Official Gazette performs.
“Section 15 of that legislation provides for every act passed by parliament to be published in the Official Gazette and to come into operation on the date of that publication, unless the law otherwise provides…Section 21 provides that all subsidiary legislation proclamation, rules, regulations, orders and bylaws, shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall likewise come into operation on the date of publication,” Minister Nandlall explained.
He explained that making the information which will be contained within and available to the entire world is of utmost importance, as scores of Guyanese residing overseas are becoming more interested in owning land and in the affairs of the country.
ANPU’s MP Basil Williams agreed to the passage of the bill on behalf of his party after highlighting two important points which added to the Attorney General’s arguments of the gazette’s importance.
“The security of the online gazette would be very important…we wouldn’t want one to hack into the website and do any damage and dislocate information …the difficulty we have with the hard-copy is that we do not get it until Thursdays, when an express copy is available on Saturdays- this poses a problem for practicing attorneys,” Williams remarked.
AFC’s MP Khemraj Ramjattan, in like manner, agreed to the Bill on behalf of his party. Ramjattan inquired whether or not the Gazette will be available in hard-copy so as to accommodate agencies and individuals who do not yet have access to the internet, to which Attorney General Nandlall answered in the affirmative.
Minister of Human Services Dr. Jennifer Webster said that such a bill is important as it seeks to formalise the process of making the gazette more accessible to all.
Meanwhile, the Deeds Registry (Amendment) Bill No. 11 of 2012 has been sent to a Special Select Committee for further consultations, and will be returned to the House on or before December 1, 2012.
This bill seeks to amend the Deeds Registry Act to elevate an agreement of sale of immovable property to the status of a bond, a lease or other encumbrance, with the purpose of ‘clothing’ a purchaser of land held by transport as some form of protection until the transport is conveyed.