Guyana will seek extension of deadline – Nandlall to make petition at Nicaragua plenary

By Michael Younge –

Guyana’s attorney general, Anil Nandlall is expected to travel to Nicaragua to make a special appeal for an extension of the deadline by which the country must comply with international recommendations which have been proposed to the extant laws. This is in a bid to avoid economic and financial sanctions, as well as blacklisting related to the legislature’s non-approval of the amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Act.

This newspaper understands that Nandlall may end up leading Guyana’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) delegation, which will be making the nation’s case before the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force in Nicaragua from May 26, if the special select committee is unable to complete work on the amendment to the legislation. If the work of the committee is wrapped up in time, Nandlall could still be forced to make the trip in the event that the bill is defeated in the National Assembly.
Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, speaking with the media earlier on Wednesday, said that he was disappointed by the collective attitude of the opposition political parties that continue their deliberate campaign of procrastination aimed at frustrating the passage of the bill and flexing their majoritarian muscles in the 65-seat legislature.
“I don’t see what other options exist for the attorney general, so I suspect, among the things he will be pressing for would be some extension, some delay, because it would be quite clear that he would not be taking to the meeting an assented copy of the bill,” Dr Luncheon explained.
He expressed disappointment over the progress made thus far at the level of the committee, describing it as “very slow”. He does not believe that the committee will be able to complete its work if the apparent lack of commitment of some opposition members continues.
Urgent importance
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds called for an adjournment of the planned business of the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon, to introduce and discuss in detail an urgent matter of public importance, but his request was disallowed by Deputy Speaker Deborah Backer, who was presiding over the House in the absence of Speaker Raphael Trotman.
Backer, who is a sitting parliamentarian for the A Partnership for National Unity, refused to entertain the formal request. She said that it did not meet the criteria to be deemed “of definite public importance” or “urgent” in nature, since the related issue has been in the public domain for a number of weeks and has been engaging the attention of a parliamentary committee.
However, the prime minister disagreed, saying the amendment to the act being faced with the opposition’s non-support despite the sanctions which loomed as the May 27 deadline nears, was both “urgent” and “of definite public importance”.
Housing Minister Irfaan Ali sought to intervene after Backer gave her ruling, but was debarred from making any statements to give more potency to the government’s arguments in support of the amendments.
AG Nandlall said it was disappointing that the opposition could not consider the merits of the arguments as far as implications for Guyana were concerned, if the amendment was not passed. Nandlall had tabled a series of proposed changes and recommendations made by the international financial task force as a single amendment to the principal act after a lengthy period of review and engagements with key stakeholders. The amendment was tabled and read for the first time on April 22, and read for the second time on May 7. It was subsequently sent to a special select committee by the opposition for scrutiny.
Timely passage
He said from the onset, he informed the legislature of the importance of the bill, the need for its timely passage through the House, as well as the consequences for its non-approval.
Making a statement as a minister in the Parliament, Nandlall said the opposition insisted on sending the legislation to a select committee, despite his argument about the precarious position in which Guyana would find itself were the deadline not met.
He informed Parliament that since then, only four meetings were convened to discuss the critical amendment on May 8, 13, 16, and 20 respectively, with the last ending prematurely after opposition members withdrew.
The AG revealed that despite government meeting all of the requests of the opposition at that parliamentary level, the APNU voted down its request for meetings to take place daily, given the urgency of the matter at hand. The opposition, after working out the modalities and functions of the committee, requested that: 1) notices be placed in all papers inviting members of the public to send its contributions in writing; 2) specific agencies be written to, inviting submissions; 3) a list of all documents of the recommendations, reports, and correspondence with Guyana on this matter be made available; and 4) names of experts that government would have in the committee to assist the body, among others.