Committee to craft time-bound plan for drafting revised constitution
The members of the Oversight Committee for constitution reform have been named and terms of reference agreed after consultation among the parliamentary parties. According to a document circulated in Parliament yesterday, the committee is responsible for planning, monitoring and overseeing the implementation of the recommendations for constitutional changes that have been forwarded by the Constitution Reform Commission, reviewed and endorsed by the Special Select Committee and adopted by the National Assembly. The members are Dr Roger Luncheon, Moses Nagamootoo and Dr Leslie Ramsammy from the PPP/Civic; Haslyn Parris and Vincent Alexander from the People's National Congress; and Dr Rupert Roopnaraine and Manzoor Nadir from the Alliance for Guyana and The United Force respectively. Among the specific tasks which the committee is to undertake are the composing of a time-bound plan for the drafting of a revised constitution for adoption by the National Assembly; the establishment of two Task Forces with clear terms of reference as it deems necessary to fast track arrangements for an electoral system which combines the characteristic of proportionality with those of gender and geographical representativeness and the establishment of an Ethnic Relations Commission. The committee is also required to identify experts, together with their terms of reference who would assist the Task Forces that the Committee established. It is also entrusted with the responsibility of preparing a project-type document to facilitate adequate financing of the time-bound plan. The emphasis would be on making optimal use of existing resources and institutions under government control. The committee is required to submit monthly reports with the first one due by December 31.
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