AG: Anti-Gang Bill coming back

Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi yesterday disclosed that Government will bring the Anti-Gang Bill 2017 back to Parliament.

Al-Rawi spoke to reporters after a news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.

The bill was defeated in the House of Representatives last month, when the Opposition refused to support it.

Under the rules of Parliament, the legislation cannot be brought back to Parliament for six months.

Asked if the bill would return to Parliament in June or afterwards, Al-Rawi replied, “Most definitively.”

Noting the number of murders committed so far for this year, Al-Rawi said the Police Service has been “very aggressive in closing the gap between an allegation and an arrest.” The AG said the operational aspect to combating crime was as important as its legislative component.

“The operational functionality you will see revealed this year,” Al-Rawi said, and this would be reflected in things such as prison reform, electronic monitoring and DNA.

The AG reminded reporters about the anti-corruption legislative package which Government plans to bring to Parliament over the next seven months.

“Legislatively, we are going to be very busy this year,” he said.

Last month, Al-Rawi said some of the bills in this package would require a special majority for passage. Asked if he believed the new year could bring a new disposition to the Opposition in supporting the Government’s anti-corruption legislation, Al-Rawi replied, “I think we’ll have to take that one step at a time,” but concluded, “I feel positive that this year is going to be a good year.”

During the briefing, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young described the meeting between Government and the Opposition on presidential nominees at the Diplomatic Centre as productive and co-operative.

Young was hopeful that Government-Opposition dialogue on other matters would follow this pattern.