ATTORNEY-GENERAL and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., has said that the nation could expect more legislative interventions this year.

He made those remarks at the opening of the Law Year 2024 and the launch of the Strategic Plan for the Judiciary, on Tuesday.

With Guyana rapidly evolving, archaic laws which, in some cases, serve as obstacles in the administering of justice, will be amended.

“Speaking from the government side,there are going to be some very impactful legislative interventions during the year 2024,” he said.

With an inherited, outdated Evidence Act, the Attorney General said that efforts are underway to draft a new bill. This one will be taking into account the new technological realities, among other things.

Additionally, as regards the Plea Bargaining Act, which according to him was riddled with certain systemic deficiencies in the law itself, a bill was tabled last year which saw the addition of modern concepts.

“I sat with the Director of Public Prosecutions and other stakeholders, and we frontally addressed those technical deficiencies, which I am told were the reasons why the bill never worked, or the law never worked,” Nandlall said.

Also, regarding arbitration, which is a very key component in society, the Attorney General said that one could expect the bill to be debated in the National Assembly shortly.

“This bill, as I said many times before, is the first incarnation of a model Caribbean legislation recently produced. But most importantly, it has had the input of many arbitration experts in the United States of America, including two of the more established law firms in North America. We have had many training exercises, both at the level of the judiciary, lawyers in the public sector, the bar, as well as in the private sector,” he said.

Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution that sees the parties involved in a dispute agreeing to have the case heard by one or more arbitrators entrusted with making a legally binding decision on the matter.

“Our bill contains a provision which I believe, is unique… it allows for companies and organisations offering arbitration services in any part of the world that come and do arbitration here. There is no restriction, no inhibition whatsoever. Our law, as I said, represents the gold standard for arbitration, not only in this part of the world, but any part of the world. So arbitration is going to be a major platform for the resolution of disputes,” the Attorney General further remarked.

Additionally, there is also intensive research in the area of trust law, according to Nandlall, given the fact that Guyana’s laws, especially express trust “is in complete chaos and is posing many issues.”

The Companies Act is also undergoing review and there is the utilisation of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) produced model.

“But we began work on the Companies [Act] long before the CARICOM model. But now that we have that CARICOM model, we are going to marry the work that we have done so far,” he said.

The Attorney General also made mention of the ongoing law-revision exercise, which will target the period 2012 up to December 31, 2022.

Speaking on the delay, the Attorney-General said that while it ought to have been concluded on or before the December 31 of last year, the contractor pleaded for an extension owing to the volume of work.

The Attorney General underscored the importance of the rule of law and said the government is of the firm view that an independent judiciary, the institution of the rule of law, and the justice system are all prerequisites to the success of the government’s developmental agenda.