LEGISLATORS play a vital role in the evolution and development of society, with the constant need to update laws and legislative frameworks, to enact new, advanced parameters for the proper legal functioning of the nation, and to provide guidelines and a workable environment for justice, fairness, and equality for every Guyanese. Attorney-General, Anil Nandlall S.C., commented recently that his ministry will be busy over the foreseeable future with a hectic legislative agenda, ranging from proposed constitutional reform, to evolving laws to accommodate the emerging importance of the oil and gas sector, and modernising existing legal systems and enacting new ones to sync with the times, across every sector of the society.
Updating all the country’s laws and bringing every facet of the justice system up to scratch requires an enormous amount of work, and Minister Nandlall piloted through Parliament last month a comprehensive overhaul of the Law Reform Commission, a professional body appointed to study the legal landscape and report on the necessary process to keep laws updated and relevant at all times.

Nandlall demonstrates a keen sense of what is required within the justice sector. And his leadership in reforming the commission to include experts from a wide cross section of society is forward-thinking and shows that he understands the need for every sector to play a role in formulating laws and legal systems.
Guyana is coming into a whole new paradigm as socio-economic development increases at a rapid exponential pace, with every sector moving fast into new, deeper legal currents. Keeping up with the changing landscape is a mammoth task, and the Attorney-General shows that he understands, with a keen sense of the times, what is required for Guyana to flow along smoothly. The legal and Justice system is one of the most vital lifeblood of the country in these times of rapid advancement.
On top of all that is the new world order now unfolding, which Guyana would more and more play an important role in as an oil and gas producer, and a net-clean climate generator. The World Economic Forum and the United Nations are leading a monumental shift in how human society works across the global village. This new global order aims for a more equitable, humane, climate-conscious humanity, with the uppermost concern being net-zero climate footprint.

In fact, the upcoming global Climate Summit in November, hosted in Glasgow, England, will set out a new global agenda, for every country in the world to re-work the value system on which society pivots, away from economic benchmarks, to clean climate benchmarks. That fundamental philosophic transformation will require every country in the world to implement a wholesale makeover of the legislative framework around social and economic activity, and Guyana would engineer a new way to measure its Gross National Product, to include its most valuable asset in today’s world, as a clean climate net generator and a part of the Amazon lungs of the world.
These are weighty issues, and Nandlall has his hands full, to keep Guyana up to date with such a fast-paced, mammoth shift in how the global village works, while simultaneously keeping the local legal system on track. In fact, the parliamentary agenda to bring Guyana into sync with the new world order emerging post-COVID is going to see a busy National Assembly over the next five years, even just to align with new, emerging international standards.

It is not anymore just a matter for a national finance system of integrity and credibility, but rather, for the enactment of a slew of new and updated legislation that aligns this country with the new global landscape, because the world is now engineering a new value system by which business, government, culture, and every aspect of society would function. There is a fundamental, important, crucial seismic shift happening within human consciousness, which is moving Mankind from an economic worldview, into a climate sustainability worldview. As the 21st century unfolds, much progress and reform of how human society works is underway, with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals under a timetable of five more years, and the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset aiming for huge social and economic changes by 2030, and the Climate Agenda pushing for a net-zero emissions world by 2045. These timetables and new societal foundation transformation have direct impact on Guyana, and how Guyanese live. And much of the necessary structures and systems for Guyana to work well within this new, emerging world order lie in the legislative branch of government, and in the leadership hands of Attorney-General Nandlall.

Showing that he fully understands the task at hand, Nandlall told the media, last month, that “the Law Reform Commission is expected to hire researchers, social scientists, financial minds and persons trained in different disciplines, who will constantly review issues arising in the country and then consider whether we can find a legislative solution. In addition to legally-trained persons, the commission must also have persons trained in social sciences, in the natural sciences, in economics, and commerce and in law enforcement. Scientific research may have to be done; social surveys conducted; economic and commercial activities examined to inform legislative policies and law reform itself”.
These are exciting times, as the world prepares to usher in a futuristic new humanity post-COVID, with technology paving the way for a new global village of equality, fairness and justice. Positioning Guyana to play its rightful role in that new atmosphere requires a deep comprehension of what is at stake, and the human resources, skills set, and leadership necessary for Guyanese to move with the times and surf the tides of change with practical legislative intelligence.