Committee to oversee constitution receives unanimous approbation
The National Assembly yesterday unanimously approved a motion to establish an Oversight Committee which will guide the revision of the Constitution under which general elections are scheduled to be held by January 17, 2001. But opposition members, Manzoor Nadir of The United Force (TUF) and Dr Rupert Roopnaraine of the Alliance for Guyana (AFG), expressed concern about the motion, which, they said, seemed to have been arrived at as a result of collaboration between the PPP/Civic and the PNC. Lance Carberry, a PNC front bencher said his party's support for the motion was because of the importance of the Oversight Committee to the finalisation of the new Constitution under which the elections are to be held. Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Reepu Daman Persaud, who introduced the motion said that there had been prior agreement among the parliamentary parties. The motion provides for the committee, once established, to supply periodic reports to Parliament, with the first due on or by December 31. Among its functions, Persaud said, would be to guide the preparation of the new Constitution and to set up two task forces to deal respectively with issues related to electoral reform including the composition and functions of the Elections Commission and the establishment of an Ethnic Relations Commission. It must also produce a time-bound plan for drafting the new Constitution. He also urged that the report of the Special Select Committee on Constitution Reform should be read for an appreciation of the work which been done so far in the process. Persaud said that once the new Constitution was in place it would provide the necessary security for all those who want to live in peace and harmony in Guyana. Carberry described the establishment of the Oversight Committee as an "earnest effort and the last opportunity for a reformed Constitution under which new general elections must be held. He said that once in place it will be the responsibility of the government to mobilise all the resources necessary for the committee to discharge its functions. Nadir's concern was that the motion did not specifically charge the committee with recruiting a team of legal experts to write the Constitution. Describing the motion as the result of intercourse between the PPP/Civic and the PNC, the TUF leader stated that the motion should have provided for the completion of the new Constitution to allow for a referendum on it to be held by May. He noted that most of the recommendations were unanimous and that drafting a new Constitution based on these recommendations should not take longer than two months. Dr Roopnaraine also voiced his concern about the authority which the Oversight Committee would have. He noted that there was a number of recommendations which the Constitution Reform Commission had made which required a decision by the Parliament. He said that the Select Committee which had been charged with dealing with the report had resisted taking any decision and referred them back to the National Assembly. As a result, he said, he felt the government needed to say whether the Oversight Committee will be empowered to recruit the expert assistance to advise on the electoral system which would meet the requirement of the CRC's recommendation that it should provide for gender and geographical representativeness while retaining the characteristic of proportionality. Other "thorny" issues detailed by Dr Roopnaraine included the issues of ancestral rights and the establishment of a second chamber. He also questioned the imposition of the December 31 deadline for the first report by the Oversight Committee, commenting that this has not always been helpful. Speaking with Stabroek News after yesterday's sitting, Persaud said that during the week he would be consulting with the parties about the composition and functions of the committee and that he expected to be able to make a further announcement by the end of the week. Other business conducted yesterday was the passage of two motions, moved by Foreign Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, approving the ratification of protocols amending the Treaty of Chaguaramas. The protocols dealt with industrial and agricultural policies and they received the support of the PNC, AFG and TUF. Newly-appointed Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Sasenarine Kowlessar, was sworn in an non-elected member of the National Assembly. Trade Minister, Geoffrey DaSilva who was appointed at the same time as Kowlessar, was not present at yesterday's sitting to take the oath as he had asked to be excused.
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