Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reform in action
The Parliamentary Constitutional Reform Committee has been set up with the Minister for Legal Affairs and Attorney General Anil Nandlall as Chair.
The Committee has a mandate to keep under review the effectiveness of the operation of the Constitution and make periodic reports there to the National Assembly, with a proposal for amendments as necessary.
The Committee’s list includes Education Minister Priya Manickchand; Sports Minister Charles Ramson; Minister for Public Services, Sonia Parag; and Member of Parliament (MP), Sanjeev Datadin.
Representing the Opposition on the Committee are MPs Khemraj Ramjattan, Raphael Trotman and Nicolette Henry, along with Amanza Walton-Desir.
To assist in its work, the Committee has the power to co-opt experts or seek the assistance of other persons of appropriate expertise, whether or not such experts or other persons are members of the National Assembly.
The two main political parties, the Progressive People’s Progressive Party (PPP / C) and the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU + AFC) have for decades pedaled rhetoric of embracing constitutional reform, as recorded in the recent past and manifestos of both sides in the past.
Even before the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections fiasco, constitutional reform was high on the agenda for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP / C) Civic.
However, the push for it came ten times more, after the electoral election with several stakeholders including the Carter Center, CARICOM and the European Union calling for constitutional reform to be the top priority of the newly imposed regime .
The then AG, Basil Williams, was headed by the previous Constitutional Reform Committee and included familiar faces – Ramjattan, Trotman, Henry and then Public Services Minister Rupert Roopnarine along with the new AG, Minister Manickchand, Health Minister Frank Anthony and MP Adrian Anamayah.
However, that Committee had a rare name because it met less than seven times in just five years, as data shows.
The new Committee is due to meet next sometime soon where a Vice Chair will be elected.
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