The Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation Act 2003
Stabroek News
June 8, 2003
Business Page has received the following contribution from a leading attorney-at-law with considerable experience in drafting legislation.
When the bill for the establishment of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation was being debated in the National Assembly in April, Member of the National Assembly, Ms Sheila Holder raised a number of the matters relating to the Bill. Ms Holder raised issues relating to the manner in which the legislation was drafted, in particular what appeared to her were omissions from the Bill. She questioned whether the Bill was drafted properly having regard to those omissions.
The Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Hon Anthony Xavier, assured Ms Holder that he was advised by the Government’s legal advisers that the Bill was in order or words to that effect. However, there are matters, which have not been provided for in the legislation. The following are some of the omissions identified-
(i) Section 5 provides for a General Manager for the Corporation responsible to the Board of Directors of the Corporation as is provided for in legislation establishing corporate bodies, for example, the Public Corporations Act, Cap. 19:05.
(ii) Except for the provision made in section 6 for the continuation in employment of existing employees, there is no provision for employing staff in the future (as is provided for in legislation establishing other corporate bodies), unless it will be contended that the employment of staff is an incidence of being a corporate body and, therefore, it is an implied power of the Corporation. If this is so, the question must therefore be asked-Why then make specific provision in Section 5 for the General Manager and in Section 6 for the continuation in employment of existing employees?
(iii) There are important omissions from the legislation with regard to the financial management and accountability of the Corporation; for example, the preparation of annual estimates of revenue and expenditure, the annual audit for the accounts of the Corporation, the preparation of annual reports on the operations of the Corporation and the requirement for the annual reports and audited accounts to be presented to the Minister and then laid in the National Assembly.
(iv) The role of the Minister under the Act seems restricted to the appointments to the Corporation’s Board of Directors pursuant to section 5. A comparison with other enactments establishing corporate bodies reveals that there are important matters for which statutory provisions have not been made.
As mentioned earlier, the Minister assured Ms Holder that he was advised that the legislation met the requirements of legal as well as operating completeness. It may be that the legislation as drafted was satisfactory to the EEC for the purpose of making financial resources available for the Corporation but having regard to the comparisons made with other statutory provisions, establishing corporate bodies in Guyana; there are significant omissions from the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation Act 2003.
