SCRAP THE CURRENT CONSTITUTION REFORM PROCESS 

An advertisement last week for a secretary for the Constitution Reform Commission (CRC) has reminded the public that constitution reform is on the agenda. The CRC was appointed on 3 April 2024. Elections in Guyana are due on or before 2 November 2025. The delay so far does not suggest that the CRC will be in a position to commence its first […]

PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY

The issue of presidential immunity reached a high point in the United States during last week in the hearing of a case in the United States Supreme Court brought by former President Donald Trump. Mr. Trump has long vociferously advocated that he is protected by presidential immunity from the prosecution instituted against him against him […]

NOW WHO IS CHERRY-PICKING?

The question is really very simple: Will the PPP/C propose inclusive governance in the constitutional reform process that is due to commence this year, as promised in its 2020 Manifesto? This is the question I asked in my article two weeks ago – “Constitutional Reform and the 2023 Budget.” The Attorney General, the Hon. Anil Nandlall, sought […]

CONSTITUTION REFORM AND THE 2023 BUDGET

The Constitution Reform Commission Act was passed in November 2022. Its membership is comprised as follows: 5 – PPP/C; 4 – APNU+AFC; 1 each representing the following: LJP-ANUG-NM; Guyana Bar Association; Labour Movement; National Toshaos’ Council; private sector; womens’ organisations; youth organisations: Christian organisations; Muslim organisations; Hindu prganisations; farmers. The chair and deputy chair shall […]

INCLUSIVE GOVERNANCE IS DEAD

It is now over twenty years that inclusive governance, referred to previously by other slogans such as ‘participatory democracy,’ was enshrined in the Guyana constitution. The principle was set out in article 13 which was enacted as part of widespread constitutional changes in 2001 following the Report of the Constitution Reform Commission (“the Commission”) of […]