Consultations on Broadcast Bill complete -unless legal breaches are found by AG Chambers

DPI, GUYANA, Friday, August 18, 2017

Minister of State Joseph Harmon at a Post Cabinet Press Briefing held at the National Communications Network (NCN) studio on Friday, said that there will be no more consultations on the Broadcast Act 2017.

Minister Harmon explained that there is a policy of consultations and wider consultation on any matter which will eventually become Law, which the government has to bring to the National Assembly, “There are always consultations and so the Broadcast Bill was subject to that kind of consultations.”

In explaining the process that an Act goes through before it becomes a Bill, Minister Harmon said, “Once it has gone through the National Assembly, and the debate was completed, the Clerk of the National Assembly submits the draft for consent to the President and then to my office, it is then sent to the Attorney General (Chambers) who verifies that the statements are accurate statements, and that those are a true reflection of what transpired in the National Assembly, it then goes as a recommendation for his Excellency to actually assent to the Bill, these are the stages that a Bill goes through before it becomes an act of Parliament and Law.”

Minister Harmon noted that whilst the Attorney General is reviewing the Bill, should he encounter something he is unsure about, a recommendation will be made by him for the issue to be rectified.

The Minister of State said that he, “cannot specifically say the President (has) placed his assent to it as yet…but what I do know is that it has come from the National Assembly, it has passed my desk and is at the Attorney General’s Chambers for a statement from him saying that he is satisfied with what is recorded is consistent with what was discussed in the National Assembly and go to the President for assent”.

On August 04, 2017, the Broadcast Amendment Bill was passed in the National Assembly.

 

By: Gabriela Patram