Attorney-General Anil Nandlall says he is awaiting instructions from the Office of the President (OP) on whether to issue assent certificates for the four recently-passed local government bills even as junior Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker says that they are not necessary for elections.
Whittaker, during a press conference yesterday, refused to take additional questions on his statement but prior to the bills being passed. AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan recently said that because of the necessity of the polls, the AFC was prepared to have the polls under the present laws, while APNU leader David Granger had said that APNU is opposed to having the elections, which have not been held since 1994, under present laws. The government and opposition have wrangled for over a decade to enact local government reforms and local government polls elections have been due since 1997.
It has been over a month now since the four bills were sent to Nandlall’s chambers and Nandlall’s statement suggests that President Donald Ramotar would have already made up his mind on whether or not to sign the bills into law even before it reaches his desk for assent. Previously, the role of the Attorney General’s Chambers in vetting bills in
