ATTORNEY-GENERAL (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Anil Nandlall yesterday responded to the APNU (A Partnership for National Unity) call for the Government to further fortify the judiciary, rejecting comments by Opposition Parliamentarian, Mr. Basil Williams.The latter, Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs, in a Kaieteur News article the day before said if President Donald Ramotar is serious about strengthening the judiciary, then he should do all that is necessary to ensure that the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Bills 2012 and 2013, which were passed by a majority in Parliament, are retabled and assented.
Nandlall, at the commissioning of the Wales Magistrate Court, West Bank Demerara, declared that the judiciary is better positioned and more resourced that it has ever been.
He added that the independence of the judiciary is assured, as long as the current Administration holds the reins of power.
The AG referred to the fact that as a demonstration of the People’s National Congress (PNC) dominance over State institutions, its party’s flag was flown over the Court of Appeal prior to 1992.
According to him, this practice undermined public confidence in the impartiality of the Guyanese judiciary.
Nandlall emphasised that considerations of the success of the judicial system to date, must be considered in an historical context.
He posited that the successes of Guyana’s judicial system, as seen to date, will ensure that the country does not revert to the “unfortunate” days of the past, but maintained that the facts must not be forgotten.