Report On Constitutional Reform Handed Over To Guyana Government

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, May 2, (CMC) – The Guyana government, last Saturday, received the final report on proposed constitutional reform, with Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, promising “to take it forward”.

Government has said that the report by the six-member Steering Committee on Constitutional Reform (SCCR), which was establish in August 2015, will guide a new political culture in Guyana.

“Today, I am going to try to read this (the report) and see what I would be able to do to take it forward; first to the Cabinet and then we would announce the further stages in the process,” Nagamootoo said.

“This remit was to be able to give us a direction, the scope within which the constitutional reform process should take place,” he said.

He said the coalition David Granger-administration had placed high on its agenda, the issue of constitutional reform, and expressed the hope that the guidance contained in the final report would be able to give the government both “enough time and space”, in which it can achieve the areas identified as areas for reform and change in the constitution.

The report was handed over to Prime Minister Nagamootoo by the Convenor of the steering committee, Nigel Hughes, who paid tribute to the two members, Professor Sheldon McDonald and Haslyn Parris, who died during the course of the deliberations.

“Both of their contribution has been invaluable, and I want to salute them and thank them for it, as well as to acknowledge their contribution,” Hughes said.

As it relates to the final report, itself, though, Hughes explained that he was not at liberty to disclose its actual content.

He however, said that the committee has submitted to the Prime Minister what he considers to be “the framework of the pathway for the constitutional reform commission,” which, he hopes will be established shortly.