–Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance
MINISTER of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira has described the Alliance For Change (AFC) swipe at the recent consultation on the amendments to the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) and the National Registration Act (NRA) as irresponsible.
The draft amendments seek to safeguard democracy in Guyana by protecting the national electoral process. The AFC, at a recent press conference, criticised the consultation as unhelpful.
Minister Teixeira, however, said the claim by the AFC is far from true. She noted that on October 29, 2021, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali announced that the draft amendments to the electoral laws would be made publicly available on social media within one week of the announcement.
On November 5, 2021, the amendments to the ROPA and draft regulations to the ROPA were posted on the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance’s Facebook page, Minister Teixeira said, and pointed out that the public was invited to submit comments, observations, and changes first, within six weeks, which then stretched to almost one year.
“To the credit of the then General-Secretary and Chairperson of the PNC, Ms. Amna Ally and Ms. Volda Lawrence, both asked the ministry for hard copies of the draft amendments, which were promptly provided to them,” the minister said.
On May 9 and 19, 2022, she said, Attorney-General Anil Nandlall met with the respondents to the draft amendments to the ROPA, but neither the APNU+AFC coalition, the PNC, nor the AFC submitted any comments or changes to these drafts, prior to or after the May meetings.
On September 29, 2022, the draft amendments to the National Registration Act were also publicly posted on the Ministry’s Facebook page, the minister related.
“These parties were invited to the national consultation on October 25th and predictably walked out, alleging that Minister Nandlall and I had taken two hours out of a three-hour consultation. The AFC forgets that in this electronic age, records of time are captured. First of all, I spoke for seven minutes in my opening. The Attorney- General was asked to do an overview of the draft laws and rationale behind the amendments; he spoke for one hour and 15 minutes. After this, he began the examination of the draft amendments to the acts. We then took a break at 2:50 pm and concluded after 5:00 p.m. The APNU/AFC representatives, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, Mr. Roysdale Forde, and Ms. Tabitha Sarabo-Halley walked out only one hour after the consultation began. For the AFC to assume what were the reasons for Mr. Jonas’ and Mr. Mahadeo’s departure is rather presumptuous, particularly as the latter publicly stated why he was leaving, and it was not for the same reasons as the AFC representatives,” Minister Teixeira said.
She added: “More importantly, how does the electorate treat with any political party and its elected Members of Parliament who are so dismissive and uninterested in amendments of these statutes, after the punishment and stress that the nation and the citizenry went through during the five-month delay following the March 2, 2020 Elections? Is this not the height of political irresponsibility?
“These very statutes define and protect the electoral process in our country, and guard our fundamental right to elect our representatives to government periodically, as enshrined in the Constitution. These amendments emerged to ensure that there would no “Mingo-ism” in future elections.”
The consultation saw participation from representatives of faith-based organisations, political parties, private sector and other civil society organisations and actors.
“Contrary to response by the AFC, the feedback received from the consultation participants was especially positive, as they noted to have found the session informative and enlightening, and they appreciated being invited and included in the ongoing electoral reform process,” Minister Teixeira said.
