Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall says that the office he now occupies has been inactive for five years under the previous administration. He made this claim during his budget presentation today in the National Assembly.
“From all indications, the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Legal Affairs was demonstrably dormant for five years. Apart from a few Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bills, which were hastily enacted in late 2015 and early 2016, there were no major legislation passed. Even these AML/CFT Bills, were drafted during the PPP/C Administration, but which the APNU+AFC used their one seat majority to vote down during the 10th Parliament of Guyana,” Nandlall told the House this afternoon.
The Member of Parliament said that not only was the office dormant, but it took a laid-back approach in dealing with institutions that fell under its purview. He referred to manner in which a multimillion-dollar foreign-funded project was being managed.
“The Ministry begun to administer an $8M USD Inter-American Development Bank funded support programme for the Criminal Justice System in 2017…A staggering $2M USD was spent already from this programme, largely for the payment of expenditures, including salaries and wages, rental and costs associated with accommodation,” he said.
Nandlall conveyed to the House that while these monies were being expended, the programme was treated “like a kept secret”, as neither the Opposition in the Parliament, important stakeholders in society, nor the ordinary Guyanese knew what it was, until he made components of the programme public, a few weeks ago.
