OPPOSITION Member of Parliament Dr. Vindhya Persaud has made a plea for legislative action to be taken to address the sale of alcohol to minors.

“There are excellent pieces of legislation when it comes to drinking and driving, but there are missing gaps when it comes to minors in terms of sale to young people at ad hoc events,” Dr. Persaud told the House on Monday.

At the time, she was speaking on the Seventh Periodic Report of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Social Services for the period September 10, 2015 to February 16, 2018.
In the report, which was adopted by the National Assembly on Monday, the committee recommended that shop/bar owners should be given two warnings, failing which their licence should be revoked for non-compliance.

In July 2017, a delegation of officers from the Guyana Police Force had appeared before the commission. They included the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Marlon Chapman; Senior Superintendent, Wendell Blanhum; and Senior Superintendent, Royston Andries-Junor.
In responding to a series of questions posed by the committee, Andries-Junor had told the committee that it was the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) responsibility to clamp down on the illegal sale of alcohol, since it issues the licence, however, the force would conduct raids from time to time.

He had noted too that there was no targeted activity at the time to prosecute adults who send children to purchase alcohol, positing that the police force was focused on combating “serious crimes.”

It was based on the information provided, that the committee called for a tightening up of the system. “It should be mandatory for shop/bar owners to display notices on business premises informing the public that the sale of alcohol to minors is illegal,” it recommended..

Additionally, it made a call for the police force to collaborate with GRA to establish a notice to sensitise shop owners and the general public that it is illegal/unlawful to sell alcohol beverages to minors.
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This notice should be given to shop owners/businesses upon uplifting their licence from the GRA and should be prerequisite, like the licence, for them to publicly display on their premises,” the sectoral committee urged.

“Monitoring activities should be undertaken/conducted by the relevant authorities, especially at activities to celebrate the last day for school and other events such as school sports/fairs/parties, social activities at creeks and on public holiday celebrations, such as Mashramani where the sale of and use of alcohol by minors are more prevalent,” the committee added.

It also underscored the importance of public awareness campaigns and education programmes to reduce and eradicate the sale of alcohol to minors.

The members of the committee include from the government side – Simona Broomes, Valerie Garrido-Lowe, Dr. Karen Cummings, Valerie Patterson and John Adams and from the opposition – Dr. Persaud; Indranie Chandarpal, Alistair Charlie and Dr. Vishwa Mahdeo. Adams presented the report to the House on Monday for adoption.