The General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis has issued a call for the Special Parliamentary Select Committee to hold public hearings into the proposed establishment of the National Intelligence Agency and the National Intelligence Bill.

The National Intelligence and Security Agency Bill was presented to the National Assembly last Monday by the Attorney General Anil Nandlall, but given the increasing concern being expressed over the proposed legislation, President Irfaan Ali has since instructed that the it be sent to a Special Select Committee.

GTUC’s General Secretary Lincoln Lewis has now proposed that members of the public and civil society groups also be given the opportunity to make contributions about the legislation, while it is at the Special Select Committee.

In his address at a Labour Day Rally at the Critchlow Labour College, Lewis expressed concerned that the Intelligence Agency could be used to spy on citizens.

“The intent of this agency is to spy on citizens, primarily those who express alternative opinions to the government. Already we are experiencing persons dragged before the courts for expressing opinions, independent of government’s propaganda, of what is taking place in society. This proposed law is to give cover, and more so make legitimate the PPP’s atrocities. We must demand guardrails be placed in Bill to ensure our fundamental rights and freedoms are not violated, and more so hold the enforcers of the law accountable to the Constitution and international conventions,” he said.

Mr Lewis said Guyanese, whose privacy could be breached if the Bill is passed in its current form, should be given an opportunity to vet the proposed legislation and express their concerns via a public forum.

“This request is made based on past experiences where there has been minimal agreement at the level of the Committee, and the PPP returns to the Parliament and rams the Bill through. The implications of the passage of this Bill are grave. We live in a society where public officers under the PPP are hardly held accountable. In this environment where almost everything has been reduced to partisan petty politics, there are reasons to fear vesting more authority in the government could lead to increased tyranny by operatives in government,” he said.

He told told workers and their unions that politicians ought to be held accountable to ensure that they govern in the interest of the people and manage the welfare of the state to the people’s benefit.

Lewis said progressive trade unionists believe politics is about people and people’s development.

He also registered his concern over aspects of the Counter Terrorism Unit that the government intends to activate.

Lewis accused the Irfaan Ali Administration of investing time and financial resources to erode rights and freedoms, to perpetuate acts that deny workers economic, social and political justice.

“This level of political wickedness the nation has never before seen. They would like to tell you the constitutional right to free education from nursery to university, particularly at university, cannot happen because the coffers are bare, or you have to wait until 2025, when General and Regional Elections are due to enjoy what continues this right. None of this is acceptable. A right is to be respected now and every day, don’t tell us we must wait to enjoy a right in the future when it belongs to us as so enshrined,” the GTUC General Secretary said.

A number of groups and organisatons have expressed worry about the National Intelligence Bill.

The Guyana Bar Association was one of the first organisations to publicly oppose the Bill. (Svetlana Marshall)

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