President Bharrat Jagdeo has delayed the enactment of several key laws, covering a $4B supplementary budget, controversial tax reforms and new security measures, while failing to officially give any reason for withholding approval.
The President has yet to give his assent to nine bills that were all passed with the unanimous approval of the house before the annual parliamentary recess in mid-August.
At a time when the government was criticized for trying to rush a slate of controversial bills through the house, President Jagdeo had given assent to 7 of the 16 bills that had been passed since the start of the year, prompting concerns about the ruling party’s agenda in the parliament.
The President must assent to legislation passed by the parliament in order for them to become enforceable. According to the Parliament Office, no reason has been given for the delay.
Addressing the issue after it was raised at a recent business forum, Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran said after the passage of legislation the parliament has no further constitutional role.
“There is an administrative role that we adopt,” he explained, saying that after approval bills are forwarded to the Office of the President (OP) for the President’s assent. “After that our business is at an end.”
Ramkarran would not offer any comment on how the situation impacted on parliamentary democracy, saying that he was required to remain neutral.
AFC MP Raphael Trotman, however, disagreed, arguing that the Speaker has a responsibility to monitor the fate of legislation. He said the President’s delay “makes a mockery of the people’s parliament” and that his actions could lead to “a tremendous waste of taxpayer’s money.” Last year, the government quietly resubmitted bills that lapsed after the President failed to give his assent after their unanimous passage in the house.
Trotman said the President’s attitude was an insult to MPs, though he considered it to be the continuation of a trend by the PPP/C to ride roughshod over the parliamentary process. He said the party has been fooling the public by merely going through the motions of enacting legislation.
Trotman said the President has a duty to assent to the laws or return them with an explanation. “To simply sit on them goes against the spirit of the constitution,” he said. “Fifty-five parliamentarians are being paraded to participate in a charade.”
The bills currently awaiting assent are: the Supplementary Appropriation (No. 1 for 2008) Bill 2008 (which covers a $4.840 supplementary billion budget to meet the government’s expenditure from the consolidated fund for the remainder of the current fiscal year); the Fiscal Enactments (Amendment) Bill 2008 (remedying oversights in the main legislation, while retroactively enabling tax concessions that had already been granted to two subsidiaries of Queens Atlantic Investments Inc (QA11)); the Tax (Amendment) Bill 2008 (which removes the Stamp Duty levied on companies upon incorporation or increased capitalization); the Prevention of Crimes (Amendment Bill) 2008 (which would create a mechanism for police supervision of convicted paedophiles for the remainder of their lives after prison); the Evidence and Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) 2008 (setting limits for driving under the influence and legalizing the use of breathalyzer tests); the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2008 (banning the use of mobiles while driving and instituting harsher penalties for the use of fake license plates); and the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2008 (banning music on hire cars and buses that transport the public).
For his part, President Jagdeo has said in the past that he has withheld his assent to bills for reasons including lobbying from the private sector as well as his personal concerns.
The constitution stipulates that the President can either give or refuse assent to a bill sent after being passed in the National assembly. Article 170 states that the President shall signify that he assents or withholds assent, in which case the bill is sent back to the house for the members to reconsider it. He is required to return the bill to the Speaker within 21 days of the date when it was presented to him with a message stating his reasons for not giving his assent. The constitution provides that when a bill is returned in this manner, it shall not be presented to the President for assent unless within six months a two-thirds majority of elected members resolves that it should be given assent. The President must then assent to the bill within 90 days after receiving it for the second time.
President Jagdeo’s withhold of assent was highlighted in the 2005 needs assessment of the Parliament conducted by Sir Michael Davies, who was engaged by the Commonwealth Secretariat. Sir Michael concluded: “…It is a negation of parliamentary government for the stated will of the legislature to be delayed.”
A decision on the bill should be given immediately, he felt, explaining that if the government did not wish the legislation to come into force immediately it could make provision for a delay in a commencement clause. He, however, emphasized: “It is desirable that the Assembly should be notified when Assent is given to Bills but in the case of any Refusal of Assent it should be an absolute requirement that the Assembly is notified.”
