–Attorney-General also addresses misconceptions over agency

DESPITE negative comments from the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) regarding the establishment of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (N.I.S.A), President Dr. Irfaan Ali has said that the agency has been in operation for over a decade, even during the five-year period when the APNU+AFC held office.

On the sidelines of an event on Wednesday, the Head of State set the record straight on a Bill which was tabled in the National Assembly by Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, S.C., last Monday.

The aim of the Bill is to essentially establish a legislative framework on how the agency will be structured and financed, and its responsibilities, among other things.

“The agency was created years ago. I came as the President and met NISA; the National Intelligence Agency was there before my presidency. This National Intelligence and Security Agency has been operating for a number of years; over a decade,” the President said.

Dr. Ali highlighted that the Agency was in operation since 2010 under then President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, and under the David Granger-led APNU+AFC administration from 2015 until the elections in 2020.

He added that when he became President in 2020, the head of the agency was Brigadier Retired Bruce Lovell, who subsequently left, and Colonel Omar Khan was appointed.
“This agency existed; full stop!” the President said as he set the record straight.

In 2016, during his address in Parliament, Granger had promised to establish a new NISA to ensure better surveillance of our borders and coasts.

The following year, he said the then government would be re-constructing the district, regional and central information architecture to guide the operations of NISA, but nothing ever materialised during the party’s five years in government.

However, the APNU’s current leader, Aubrey Norton is now objecting to the Bill, stating that it’s dictatorial.

During the airing of his Online programme, “Issues in the News”, the Attorney-General clarified misconceptions about the new Bill, and urged the public to familiarise themselves with it.
He added that the Agency will not operate as a law enforcement body, and will work alongside the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force to aid in the gathering of intelligence.

The new Bill seeks to establish NISA as an agency to further enhance the State’s defence and security policy, as stated in Article 197A of the Constitution, to provide for the Agency to be responsible for the coordination of the State’s defence, and law enforcement activities relating to national intelligence and security, and to provide national intelligence and security advice to the President, Cabinet, and entities in the security sector, and for connected matters.

Some of the Agency’s functions, he said, include collecting information of national intelligence and security interests that provide a basis for decision making and preventive actions. NISA will also provide a modern central platform for the collection of relevant information for diverse sources.

He also called out sections of the media and persons for peddling misinformation, calling the agency a “Spy Bill”.

The Attorney-General said that the Bill is available in the Official Gazette and Online for public consumption, and urged the public to familiarise themselves with it.
Nandlall said an annual report of the NISA’s work will be laid in the National Assembly.

“So, I am saying to you that for 13 years, this agency has been functioning, performing largely the same functions which are outlined in the Bill, but it had no governance structure. It had no statutory framework, and, apparently, people didn’t know about it.

“Now, this Bill seeks to remove that cloak of apparent secrecy, and to bring a transparent legal structure into being, and to establish an accountable framework in respect of the agency itself, and those who will man and comprise the agency, and to say clearly how the agency will be funded. Once it is funded from public funds, its audited accounts are going to be laid in the National Assembly, and shall now become subject to parliamentary oversight,” he said.

The Attorney-General said that when the Agency was operating in an “ad hoc” manner while performing the same functions, there was not an ounce of criticism, especially when rules were being changed, and persons were being hired in secrecy.

He explained that NISA will also have a committee, which will consist of three members appointed by the President.

The members shall be: One person nominated by the President, another nominated by the Leader of the Opposition, and one person nominated by an organisation representing civil society.
The Committee will be responsible for revising the referred matter, and express its opinion on any questions, and make recommendations to the President.

Additionally, a clause under the Bill provides that the offence of obstruction or interference with officers of NISA in the discharge of their function is liable, on a summary conviction, to a fine of $2 million.

Additionally, no civil or criminal proceeding for breach of confidentiality may be brought against any person who, in good faith, provides information to NISA.

Among other things, no suit may be brought against NISA’s director or officers for any lawful act done, or omission made in good faith in carrying out the provisions set out in the act.

“It is unfortunate that the Bill is coming this late; that should be the criticism. The criticism should be that the Bill is coming too late. We have border issues with Venezuela, and we still have some outstanding issues… We have a migration issue here because of the porous nature of our borders, and that is presenting national security issues in this country. We have a large influx of persons here from all over and they enter or we don’t see them exiting,” Minister Nandlall said, adding:

“You have to act in the best interest of the nation. This country requires an agency of this type on firm legal footing, not an ad hoc agency. A main bureaucratic administrative entity; our economy itself requires an agency like this, because more and more as the economy grows, national security and the capability of the State to protect its citizens, and to protect assets within the State must proportionately expand, and improved intelligence gathering has to become institutionalized.”