The Attorney General said in this fresh approach, any one that is prepared to do the crime must be prepared to do the time.

“The APNU+AFC government is here and we will take care of the people of this country,” Attorney General Bail Williams declared on Tuesday as he made his contribution to the ongoing budget debates in the National Assembly.

Williams exalted the increases in old age pensions, increases in public servants salaries and the reintroduction of subsidies as a fresh approach to creating a good life for all Guyanese.

The Attorney General said in this fresh approach, any one who is prepared to do the crime must be prepared to do the time.

“Justice in Guyana must be blind and colour less; there will be no arbitrary arrest, arbitrary detention, excessive delays in trials,” Williams said.

The APNU+AFC government is not taking lightly the omission of several Acts in the current Guyana Constitution which Williams says is replete with errors to the extent that certain parts of the revised constitution are unusable.

Williams voiced his disappointment during his contribution to the ongoing budget debates and said the government welcomes the correction exercise which began in December 2014 and is still ongoing.

The Attorney General explained that the omissions and errors were as a direct consequence of the law revision that was conducted by the previous People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government under the stewardship of former AG Anil Nandlall.

“… The Nandlall’s Law revision was both costly and mediocre.  After spending around US$420,000.00 the revision was replete with errors, some gaps – subsidiary legislation as well as regulations were left undone; and entire acts and many provisions have been left out, though not repealed,” Williams said as he stood across the floor from a silent Nandlall.

Williams believes this is an abject case of the need to follow sound technical advice, reminding of previous urges for the initial six months time frame for the revision to be extended.

He told the House too that the digitization of the records of all the Registries is desirable and announced the swearing in of a Land Registry Registrar soon along with the appointment of the Registrar of the Commercial Court.

The old New Building Society (NBS) building on Avenue of the Republic is to house the Commercial and Land Registries.

Williams believes that budget caters the interconnectivity between the Commercial Registry and its sub-Registries in Berbice and Essequibo.

The presentation of the Attorney General was followed by the presentation by the former Attorney General Anil Nandlall who remained silent on many of the issues raised by Williams.

Nandlall claimed however that the Budget speech, delivered by Finance Minister Winston Jordan, was silent on the administration of justice

“I say this because I believe there is a connection between economic prosperity and functioning justice system,” he added.

The former AG also criticized the government for its approach to the sugar industry.

The former AG said he was even more disappointed with Williams’ presentation since it failed to fill the vacuum created by the budget. “70 pages and not a single sentence dedicated to the administration of justice, rule of law or fundamental rights of our people that we hear so frequently about and that is indeed worrying.”

The government has said, repeatedly that it is awaiting the findings of the ongoing inquiry into the Guyana Sugar Corporation before it decides on a way forward.

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