Bill Watch 39/2019
Parliamentary Legal Committee Adverse Report
on Maintenance of Peace and Order Bill
29 July 2019
conducted in the aftermath of the violent demonstrations in January this year.
Virtually all trials in magistrates courts are “summary trials”. [Comment: The
clause would make perfect sense if the references to summary trials were
omitted; perhaps they should be omitted to avoid misconstruction.]
Despite the misunderstanding, the Committee was right to draw attention to
clause 21 because the sentencing powers it gives magistrates are excessive ‒
eye-wateringly so. A magistrate other than the most junior will be able to
impose sentences of up to ten years’ imprisonment and regional magistrates
up to twenty years. These are sentences that should be imposed only by
judges of the High Court and only in the most serious of cases.
Conclusion
The PLC is to be commended for a report which points out the main respects
in which the Bill is in conflict with the Constitution. It is gratifying for Veritas,
because many of the Committee’s objections to the Bill are the same as those
we pointed out in our Bill Watch 24/2019 of 2nd May 2019 [link].
It is to be hoped that the Government will pay proper attention to the report and
revise the Bill to take account of the Committee’s valid objections. If the Bill is
not revised extensively it will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression,
freedom of assembly and the right to demonstrate, all vital to a democratic
society and all guaranteed by the Constitution. Also, if the Bill is not revised it
will prompt a great number of court cases challenging its constitutionality.
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