GUYANA: MERCY COUNCIL SITTING AGAIN AFTER TWO YEARS

two years after it expired, the Advisory Council on the Prerogative of Mercy in Guyana was recently reconstituted and members held their first meeting at the Ministry of Home Affairs. It has been over a decade now since any inmate on death row was hanged. Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon said in June that the administration was committed to carrying out capital punishment, but had to find ways around the constitutional and other hurdles that have dogged the application of the law for almost a decade now. It is not clear whether the reconstitution of the council is an indication that government might be moving to apply the law. Stabroek News could not ascertain whether the body reviewed any mercy applications at the meeting, but its Chairman, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee noted that there was a significant number of persons on death row and this would no doubt impact on the council's workload. The constitutional body is required to get a written report of the case from the trial judge, together with any other information derived from the record of the case or elsewhere as may be required to be taken into consideration. After obtaining the advice of the council, a designated minister is to express his own deliberate opinion to the President as to whether he should exercise any of his power in relation to the person. The body was last set up in 2002, under the chairmanship of then minister within the Ministry of Local Government Clinton Collymore. During its tenure, there were no recommendations on the implementation of the death penalty.