The government is examining an amendment to extradition laws, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon announced last week.
Luncheon told a post-Cabinet press briefing that Cabinet is considering an amendment of the Fugitive Offenders Act, dealing with extradition of Guyanese externally. His announcement came just over a month after President Bharrat Jagdeo indicated that the government would seek to modernise and modify extradition laws.

Jagdeo had said that a modern framework and a modern extradition treaty are clearly needed, contextualising it in the needed arsenal of tools to fight drug trafficking. “Then we need to look at the extradition treaty, we need to look at a number of other legislation that will allow us to have more tools to fight drug trafficking and crime generally. So I am pleased that we are moving forward in this regard,” President Jagdeo had said.

The extradition treaty between Guyana and the US contains a proviso which allows the US to extradite Guyanese nationals to third countries, clashing with the provisions of the Fugitive Offenders Act, which says “no one shall be extradited or kept in custody for the purpose of extradition from Guyana to another country unless provision has been made by that Commonwealth or treaty- country for ensuring that they would not be extradited to a third country for trial of any offence without the consent of the minister.” As a result, extraditions to the US have been on hold awaiting a new agreement or an amendment of the law.

The recent attempts to extradite Barry Dataram, for whom an extradition request was made by the US, were stalled by a court ruling which exposed the lacuna in the law.

Meanwhile, Luncheon also said that Cabinet is considering amendments to the National Insurance and Social Security Act as well as regulations covering benefits and legislation to improve business competitiveness, through electronic business registration and incorporation.