–after House clears milestone Constitution Reform Commission Bill

WIDESPREAD consultations will be the ultimate objective of the 20-member Constitution Reform Commission (CRC), which could now be constituted following passage of the Constitution Reform Commission Bill 2022 in the National Assembly, on Monday.

The commission will be made up of five members from the government, five members from the opposition and 10 persons from civil society and professional organisations across the country.

“Some may say it may be a top-heavy body, but the number doesn’t matter; widespread representation matters. We did this to ensure that we have representation from the main strata of our society,” Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, S.C. underscored in his remarks during the debate on the Bill.

The Bill was presented following deliberations at the level of the nine-member Parliamentary Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform, which comprised both government and opposition members of parliament.

However, Nandlall noted his disappointment over a persistent lack of involvement from the opposition, which had failed to offer contributions to the Bill when it was with the committee, and subsequently offered nothing in the debate of the Bill as the entire main Opposition walked out of the National Assembly before the Bill was debated on Monday.

The APNU+AFC MPs departed en masse after the Speaker of the House, Manzoor Nadir, did not allow a motion brought by the Leader of the Opposition (LOO) Aubrey Norton, to discuss a “clean voters’ list.”

After listening to Norton, Nadir explained that the motion was not of urgency, so he would not allow it.

As Nandlall arose to present the second reading of the CRC Bill, the opposition members promptly vacated their seats and exited the House, leaving Deputy Speaker Lennox Shuman as the only remaining member on the opposition benches.

In making his contribution to the debate, Shuman also spoke of his disappointment at the empty seats on his side of the House, saying that “constitutional reform is not and should not be a political football.”

He argued: “It is something that this country has said we are in desperate need of, yet there is a party that claims to be representing 50 per cent of the population but doesn’t want to participate.”

During his remarks, Shuman also called for greater involvement of Guyana’s indigenous communities in the reform process.

Constitutional reform is a long-awaited, and long-promised issue in Guyana, with several members of civil society lobbying for changes. Both the government and the opposition have agreed that constitutional reform is needed.

“In an evolving society [the Constitution] requires constant review to ensure that as our society evolves, as the aspirations of our people change, as our country transforms, that sacred pact between the state and citizens reflects those transformation[s] and those changes. Constitutional reform, therefore, has rightfully been a forefront issue on our government’s agenda,” Nandlall posited.

He related that promises and commitments for constitutional reform have been coming from the opposition camp since 2011, when the combined opposition first won a one-seat majority. However, notwithstanding the APNU+AFC being in government from 2015 to 2020, Nandlall said not much was done to put action to their words. .

“Between 2015 and 2020, there was a steering committee headed by [Attorney at Law] Nigel Hughes, commissioned by [then] Prime Minister Nagamootoo… $20 million was paid to this committee to prepare a report. The report was done, handed over to the Prime Minister and that was the end of the report and constitutional reform. That report never saw the light of day,” Nandlall said.

“We began by trying to get to examine and see if we can benefit from what transpired before on several predecessor committees on constitutional reform. We didn’t have much to review because not much was done,” he related.

And although the opposition has been reluctant to advance this process, Nandlall said that the government is committed to working along with the APNU+AFC to achieve the promised constitutional reform.

This is of particular importance given that constitutional reform cannot move forward without bipartisan support from the government and opposition, as constitutional provisions of any kind cannot be changed without a minimum of two thirds of the National Assembly, while some could only be changed by referendum.
“Fundamental to the success is consensus across the political divide,” Nandlall said.

Once enacted into law, the CRC Bill will provide for the commission to receive, consider and evaluate submissions for the changes to the Constitution. Those recommendations will then be submitted to a standing committee for consideration by the National Assembly.

The CRC, according to the Bill, will review Guyana’s supreme legal document to provide for future and current rights, duties, liabilities, and obligations of Guyanese.