Country’s legal framework significantly enhanced

SURPASSING the usual regional standards and in keeping with its commitment to strengthening Guyana’s legislative framework, the Government of Guyana has passed and enacted 25 bills in 2022 alone.

This was according to Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., in a previous edition of “Issues in the News.”

Those 25 new laws, ranging from the Hire Purchase to the Condominium Bills, were all successfully passed through the National Assembly over the course of the year.

The Attorney-General said the feat was significant by any standard around the world, as it represents, on average, two new laws being passed every month.

“That is an average of two pieces of legislation per month. That is a record by any standard…we would have doubled any other country in the Caribbean with that rate of enactment of laws,” Nandlall had related.

He said the Legal Affairs

Ministry is concluding a law revision process – a system that seeks to update the existing framework of lawswhich hasn’t been done since 2012.

“[We are concluding] the revision of the laws of Guy- ana…the exercise whereby you get all the different pieces of amendments and you insert them into the principal acts that [have been] amended, so when you read that principal act, the amendments are incorporated and it reads smoothly,” the Attorney General said, adding that the law revision process is a priority area for the PPP/C Administration.

“Law revision is a very important exercise because it keeps the country’s laws updated. Secondly, it keeps them consolidated, and, thirdly, it makes them accessible and easy to consult. So, it must be done at regular intervals,” he related.

This year, a number of bills have been tabled and passed in the National Assembly. Those range from the single window bill to the radiation bill.

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, during a press conference last Thursday, said that the much-anticipated Petroleum Activities Bill, along with the new model Production-Sharing Agreements (PSAs), will be tabled at the next sitting of the National Assembly in August.

According to Dr Jagdeo:

“…So, we’ll have a finalised PSA and also the new petroleum activities law, which were the two pre-conditions that we set ourselves before we conclude the bid round [auction of oil blocks].”

The parliamentary recess begins in August, but the new bill should be tabled in the National Assembly at the August 3 sitting.

The PPP General Secretary also said that this provides adequate time for potential bidders to submit their bids.