THE Ministries of Home Affairs and Health are currently collaborating, in a number of areas, to make operational the drunk driving law recently assented to by President Bharrat Jagdeo.

Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee, told the media that logistics are being looked at to enforce the Evidence and Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill.

He said the Guyana Police Force (GPF) already has the capacity, in terms of breathalyser machines, for the implementation but his ministry is now working to ensure that the prescribed forms, as well as an authorised analyst are on board.

Rohee said that engagement is on stream and another key factor is ensuring that, when that entire process begins, the regulations for the demerit points system – which is a disqualification and a graduation basis for a person who has been charged more than three times for driving under the influence of alcohol – is in place.

The statute dictates the punishment for which the law provides – a fine of $7,500 or six months imprisonment for a first offender; one year imprisonment and a 12 months disqualification from holding a driver’s licence for a second offender and permanent disqualification and a fine of between $40,000 and $50,000 for a third conviction.

“We are now working on the regulations for that in order to ensure that we have all hands on deck to move this process to the point of implementation,” Rohee said.

When President Jagdeo publicly signed the legislation into law on May 23, he called for public cooperation and pointed out that, in some countries, the law stipulates a mandatory prison sentence as well as the suspension of licences for the second offence.

Parliament passed it in the National Assembly in July 2008, placing the legal blood alcohol content at 0.08 grammes alcohol to 100 millilitres blood, the equivalent of which is two beers.

The Act now makes provision for a certificate, signed by a registered medical practitioner, to be received in Court as evidence in relation to analysis of breath or blood test.

The GPF has continually, through public sensitisation programmes broadcast over the past few months, that a driver, who refuses an invitation by a Police rank to undergo a breathalyser test, can and will be arrested.