29 special prosecutors working along with Police in 5 regions

…9 more to be added to system – AG

The cohort of special prosecutors being trained to work in the magistrates’ courts across the country continues to be expanded, and nine new additions are expected soon.
In order to strengthen the prosecutorial arm of the Guyana Police Force, Government has introduced the Prosecutorial Programme – a course being offered at the University of Guyana to equip holders of Bachelors of Law Degree and third-year LLB students with the necessary knowledge and skillset to prosecute cases in the magistrates’ courts on behalf of the State.

Last year, the first batch of these special prosecutors graduated, and there are currently 29 of them working along with the Police prosecutors at various magistrates’ courts across the country. These include Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice).
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, S.C., has since disclosed this number would soon increase. “We have 29 [special prosecutors] currently in the system working, and we’re adding nine more, who are now completing another course of training. So, we will have 38 very shortly in the system,” the AG said during this week’s edition of his programme Issues in the News.
The Certificate in Advocacy and Evidence for Summary Courts and Prosecutor’s Course was launched in March 2022. It is a collaboration between the Government of Guyana, through the Attorney General’s Chambers, and the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the University of Guyana (UG), the ‘Support for the Criminal Justice System Programme’ (SCJSP), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which is funding the initiative.
At the launch of the programme last year, some 71 students were admitted to pursue the Advocacy and Evidence for Summary Courts and Prosecutor’s Course.
This Special Prosecutor’s course was developed to equip students with in-depth knowledge of procedural and substantive law concerning ethics, the law of evidence, criminal practice and procedure, fundamental human rights, and aspects of constitutional and legislative interpretation.
This programme is being taught by top officials in the local and regional legal fraternity, including Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, S.C; High Court judges such as Justices Jo-Ann Barlow and Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall; the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C; former Chief Justice of Belize, Professor Kenneth Benjamin; former Justice of the High Court of Belize, Professor Courtney Abel; Darshan Ramdhani KC; and Magistrate Dillon Bess.
Upon completion of the course, the graduands will be inducted into the Guyana Police Force (GPF) as sergeants, before commencing their prosecutorial duties for the State.
Moreover, summary prosecutors who acquit themselves well would benefit from scholarships to pursue their Legal Education Certificate (LEC) at one of the region’s law schools, thus paving the way for them to become attorneys-at-law.
They will then undergo additional training for a period of three months to become acquainted with the rules, regulations and standing orders of the GPF, as well as the practical workings of Guyana’s magistrates’ courts.
This training will, in part, serve as an orientation for the prosecutors, informing them of pertinent information, including the GPF’s operational protocols, the chain of command, and how they are expected to conduct themselves as ranks of the GPF.
Once they become prosecutors, these graduands would be paid a gross salary, inclusive of allowances, of approximately $220,000.
Additionally, the GPF has moved to strengthen its own legal team by training dozens of Police ranks in an international prosecution course at the School of the Nations. The Police Prosecutors’ course was established to give Police ranks formal accredited training to improve their performance in court.
Back in May, some 32 Police ranks comprised the second batch to benefit from the course, and among these recent graduates were three top performers, all of whom have completed their studies with a 100 per cent pass rate. Then in July, another 29 ranks graduated from the Police Prosecutors’ Course.
During his programme, AG Nandlall pointed out that while the Police prosecutors have traditionally excelled going up against experienced lawyers in court, Government saw the opportunity to bring in the many LLB holders to further enhance the Police Force’s prosecutorial capacity.
“These LLB holders are further trained in practice, in procedure, in evidence, and prepare them for prosecution… This is new initiative, never tried anywhere before. And we have tried it and we are succeeding. This is a model programme that Caribbean countries would like to emulate, [and] we started it in Guyana. We are the only country in the entire Caribbean where you have these persons, where you have LLB practitioners prosecuting in the magistrates’ courts,” the Attorney General noted. (G8)