… As Opposition challenges use of information technology to circulate documents

By Derwayne Wills

AN attempt by Attorney-General(AG) Basil Williams to present the Cybercrime Bill yesterday in the National Assembly was disrupted by a verbal exchange.That exchange saw Members of Parliament of the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) questioning whether Parliament’s Standing Orders should be amended to reflect the information technology era.
The ruckus started when the AG, while reading the Cybercrime Bill for the first time in the House, called for the legislation to be moved to a Parliamentary Select Committee.
Interrupting the AG, Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, said that while she supports moving the Bill to the Select Committee for greater scrutiny, it was yet to be distributed to the PPP/C MPs for their perusal.
House Speaker, Dr Barton Scotland, considered Teixeira’s concern as the government side looked on intently.
After some five minutes of deliberation with Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, the Speaker returned to say that he’d been notified that the Bill was circulated electronically, and that he did not see the government as violating parliamentary procedure.
‘UNACCEPTABLE!’
Teixeira disagreed with the Speaker’s position, saying that the government did not take into account whether or not her party’s members were all connected to information technology.
She even went as far as to say that the government’s move to forward the Bill in electronic medium after 14:00hrs on the same day was “Unacceptable!”
She cited this as an attempt to undermine the Standing Orders, which dictate how the National Assembly conducts its business. “Let’s create new Standing Orders to say that electronic sharing can go on,” she suggested.
Teixeira bemoaned that even as she tried to open the Bill in its electronic form, “I cannot open it on my phone.”
At this, Public Telecommunications Minister, Cathy Hughes blurted out, “You should get another phone!” This, of course, caused the House to erupt in laughter.
Outraged by the comments, Teixeira shot back, “Parliament doesn’t give me a phone! So don’t take your eyes and pass me!”
Noting that the matter of sharing parliamentary documents electronically had been unsuccessfully raised before by the late Alliance For Change (AFC) MP, Sheila Holder, Teixeira asked that that rationale be again applied.
She was, however, reprimanded by the Speaker for invoking the name of a now-deceased former member of the National Assembly.
Satisfied, however, that the matter of the sharing of the Cybercrime Bill electronically had been resolved, he allowed the Attorney-General to continue with the first reading of the Bill.

CYBERCRIME BILL
The Cybercrime Bill, the content of which is ironic, considering yesterday’s exchange, seeks to bring Guyana’s criminal laws in line with the information technology era.
The Bill seeks to empower Guyana’s law enforcement with the power to investigate, prosecute, and provide penalties done on the Internet, otherwise referred to as “Cyberspace”.
It also includes, inter alia, provisions for identity-related offences; child pornography and luring; and the sharing of images of nude persons, using cyberspace to harass or intimidate.
The Bill will be moved to a Parliamentary Select Committee, where its content will be deliberated on by both sides of the House and then brought back to the National Assembly for a second and third reading, before it is finally approved.
The Bill becomes an Act of Parliament or an official law after it is assented to by President David Granger.