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by pltm
(PLTM) - Attorney General (AG), Baba Aziz has denied allegations that he is responsible for the delay in the Consumer Protection Bill. This, in response to sentiments by Junior Minister of Trade and Investment Promotion, the Honourable Marlon Penn, recently expressed in the media.
During the Thursday sitting of the House of Assembly (HoA), Hon. Aziz said that while he welcomes constructive criticism and its role of fostering improvement, he cannot accept the blame for the delay.
“I would like to straighten the position for the general public that even if there was delay, the Attorney General and his office did not intentionally or knowingly delay that Bill. In fact, our office has drafted several Consumer Protection Bills. It started in 2004, we revised it in 2011, and we revised another one in 2013,” he stated.
This delay, he sought to explain, was due to legal difficulties in ensuring all systems are in place for the passage and implementation of the Bill.
According to Hon. Aziz, “In this instance, there was a legal conundrum. The legal conundrum was simple, there is the intention to have a Trade Commission which is intended to be a Statutory Corporation. But that Statutory Corporation has not yet come into force and the Consumer Affairs Division is intended to be under the Trade Commission Corporation.”
As such, he said the Bill has not come to the House because “we do not want to refer to a non-existent body within the body of the Bill.”
The next move, he said, will have to be the completion of the legislation, and then having it brought to the HoA, adding “When that Trade Commission, which is a statutory body is established, then we’ll be able to harmonise.”
There have been increased calls for the Bill since the price-gouging that businesses engaged in after Hurricane Irma in 2017.
