Luncheon said it would seem that the anti-crime bills "are and have generated much more attention, at this stage out of Parliament than in Parliament".

He said the concerns that have surfaced were discussed by Cabinet yesterday and the position taken was categorical.

"The Government will be proceeding with the anti-crime legislation", he stressed.

Luncheon said the administration has, however, noted and will note the reservations that have been raised and are being raised by various groupings.

Despite these reservations, he asserted that the most important hurdles have already been passed.

"For Cabinet, the most important hurdles have been passed - the draft circulated and not attracting serious or any fatal objections, Cabinet's examination and approval of the four bills and finally, after adequate discussions, the governing People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) parliamentary groups' support.

"Those three to Cabinet constitute the three most important hurdles in passing (the Bills)," Luncheon told his regular post-Cabinet news conference at the Presidential Secretariat.

He noted that the main Opposition People's National Congress Reform (PNC/R) in making its reservations about the Bills known, had "once more resorted to usual efforts and tactics of intimidation".

"We are now advised that the PNC/R on the basis of the Government's intention to move ahead with the legislation is threatening to abort the `social partners dialogue'," he said.

The Government spokesman also indicated, in response to a question that he was not prepared to grace the Guyana Bar Association's position on the Bills with a comment. (See other story on page 11).

"It does not of course accord with the Administration's views and I am certain that the claims about the constitutionality of the proposed Bills have definitive (phases) and methods for their address and we are not prepared to engage in an exchange of unnecessary and lengthy exchange of views with those who do not seem to recognise the thrust of this administration in addressing through legislative means, the crime situation that is occurring in Guyana today," Luncheon stated.

He also pointed out that long before the ongoing National Consultations on Crime started, the PPP/C administration "entertained, and more than entertained, developed a draft of the proposed anti-crime legislation and because of the role that I have played in the national consultations, have absolutely no recall that this Administration undertook to await the outcome of the national consultations on crime to fashion its legislative responses to the criminal situation in Guyana."

He recalled that President Bharrat Jagdeo, as early as May and June this year, had indicated that the Government would be undertaking such an initiative.

"The legislative initiative was profiled, those drafts have been in circulation in the legal fraternity and in the State judiciary for quite sometime now before they were finally brought to Cabinet for its consideration. So I do not sense that there seems to be some premature move to Parliament (since) the Bar Association has had these bills for practically a month," he added.

Luncheon also noted that the Steering Committee on the Crime Consultation has decided to extend the public consultations to tomorrow.

He said this extension was done to allow for the rescheduling of some of the major consultations that were either postponed or under-subscribed such as in Georgetown, the University of Guyana, Critchlow Labour College and Buxton, East Coast Demerara.