Since coming to office, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has been on a rampage of pointing out the missteps of the previous Administration but Former Attorney General (AG), Basil Williams SC had reason to chastise the current AG, Anil Nandall for he termed his misleading account of the establishment of the Law Reform Commission.
In a release today, Williams responded to what he said are blatantly misleading articles published in the Guyana Chronicle and Kaieteur News based on “half-truths” presented by Nandlall at a virtual press conference on Saturday.
At the virtual engagement, the AG had claimed that over $92Million was spent by the former Administration on the establishment of the Law Reform Commission which is still not in operation.
“Since 2016 the Laws Reform Commission Bill was passed and a Law Reform Commission was established. In 2017, it was staffed…eleven staff members earning $2.138Million per month and there’s no Law Reform Commission. They have rented a building…from 2017 to now, $28Million has been spent to rent a building and no work has been done,” Nandall said.
Vowing that the new Government will move swiftly to establish this Commission, he added: “The Commissioners have not been appointed and the IDB is prepared to pull the project if it is not acted on swiftly.”
However, providing an account of the progress towards a Law Reform Commission under the APNU+AFC Administration, Williams said that after the Law Reform Commission Act (Act No. 4 of 2016) was assented to by former President David Granger in January 2016, a building was secured and rented somewhere in 2017.
He said that this was followed by the procurement of furniture and other equipment; the hiring of administrative and support staff through a transparent interview process and the commenced of their work on April 9, 2018.
In early 2019, the former AG said that a vehicle was procured for the Commission as funds became available and three commissioners to fill the vacant posts in accordance with the Act were interviewed by a panel of well experienced and respected experts.
These experts included Justice Claudette Singh SC, CCH; Justice Oslen Small and Professor Harold Lutchman. They conducted the interviews on or around August 2018 through a transparent interview process before the passage of the No Confidence Motion.
Then, in June or July 2019, an offer for appointment was made to prospective commissioners who were identified.
“In light of the foregoing, it’s clear that the Government did all it could have done and could not go further and appoint the said commissioners because of its caretaker status,” Williams said.
He added: “The PPP/C was in a mode of non- cooperation with the government, boycotting Parliament and opposing any major appointments of important Commissions such as the Law Reform Commission whose remit would require all stakeholders to be aboard and our government abided by the outcome of the General and Regional Elections rather than constituting the Commission.”
Williams noted, too, that at all times the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has been involved in the establishing of the Commission and its secretariat. As such, he rejected the Nandlall’s “half-truths, innuendos and misleading” account of the establishment of the Law Reform Commission.
