…PM urges bi-partisan parliamentary committee to get to work

PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo has called for a speeding up of the process towards constitutional reform as the country heads into oil production in 2020.

He made the call in his My Turn column on Sunday, even as he noted that other sectors in the country have also begun to show clear signs of improvement. “With good news from the oil and other developmental sectors, there is a need to further align our political system and economic institutions to work constructively and cohesively for the prosperity, rather than the poverty, of our nation,” the prime minster began, adding: “Towards this end, we must take seriously the process of constitutional reform. The all-party, bi-partisan

parliamentary committee must promptly get to work on finalising legislation to set up a Constitutional Reform Commission, as both government and opposition have a shared responsibility to build stronger systems and institutions to ensure our nation’s prosperity.”
Guyana’s Constitution is an arrangement of fundamental principles that govern the state. Constitutional reform seeks to modify some fundamental structures of these principles. The 1980 Constitution was reformed and the changes enshrined in the revised supreme law in 2001.

Upon entering office, Nagamootoo immediately set up a steering committee which produced a report. Subsequently a Constitutional Reform Commission was established in Parliament comprising Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams, SC who is the Chairman; Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan; Minister of Education, Dr. Nicolette Henry; Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman and Minister of Public Service, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine. Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) on the commission include Anil Nandlall, Priya Manickchand, Dr. Frank Anthony and Adrian Anamayah.

However, reform requires the support of at least two-thirds of the House and while the government is willing, Nagamootoo says that the opposition has been ambivalent with the process. Just in December 2018, a meeting called by Williams was only attended by the government MPs.

He stated at the time that the opposition continues to stall the work of the committee which has only met five times since being constituted.

Seeking to advance constitutional reform in September 2018, the Prime Minister’s Office, in partnership with the United Nations Children Fund (UNCEF) Guyana, released a joint report on the ‘Review of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic in Relation to the Rights of the Children.’

Nagamootoo had expressed optimism that it will become a base document to be shared with the constitutional commissioners. Doing its part in other areas, the government has since set up or reconstituted several constitutional bodies such as the Public Procurement Commission; the Local Government Commission; the Public Service Appellate Tribunal; the Integrity Commission and Ethnic Relations Commission.