A year of failed promises, unconstitutionalities (Pt 1)

Dear Editor,
The year 2017 will be remembered as a year of broken promises and some of the most egregious violations of the Constitution and the rule of law.
In the month of January, the nation was treated with a media blitz by the Attorney General signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two unknown academic entities for the establishment of a local law school in Guyana. Even a name was assigned to this venture – “The JOF Haynes Law School”, after one of the finest legal minds produced by Guyana. The nation would recall that, in 1995, the Cheddi Jagan Administration was granted permission by the Council of Legal Education of the West Indies (CLE) to establish a local law school. This project, however, was abandoned the following year when the CLE, the University of Guyana, and the University of the West Indies entered into a collaborative agreement through which the top 25 graduates of the LLB programme were guaranteed entry into the Hugh Wooding Law School. This agreement was continuously renewed under the PPP Administration. When the Attorney General made the public announcement of a local law school in January 2017, I disclosed publicly that while the PPP is not opposed to such a venture, permission must first be obtained from the CLE, and that no such permission was obtained. I also publicly questioned the academic integrity of the two institutions with which the Government had entered into this MoU. To my queries, the Attorney General boldly told the press that he had sought and obtained permission of the CLE to establish a local law school in Guyana, and that same will be up and running in 2018. By December 2017, the Attorney General was forced to disclose that he had never received permission from the CLE. In short, there will be no local law school in 2018. Our poor law students were taken on a ride of deception by the Attorney General. As usual, he conjured up a conspiracy, blaming a number of persons, except himself, for this failed venture.

Blood on my carpet
We were told that, in the year 2017, a Law Reform Commission will be established. $40 million was budgeted for it in the 2016 budget of the Ministry of Legal Affairs. To date, no such Commission has been established.

No one has been able to account for this money. More money has been budgeted for the establishment of this Commission in the 2018 budget.
We were promised that a slew of coroners will be appointed in the year 2017. Not a single coroner was appointed, although the Coroners Act was amended to facilitate these appointments.
The nation was promised that the errors in the Laws of Guyana would be corrected in the year 2017. This turned out to be another failed promise.
The year 2017 also saw the continued emasculation of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Director of Public Prosecutions office (DPP). These two organisations are constitutionally and statutorily charged with the responsibilities of investigating and detecting crimes, and the prosecution of criminal offences. Armed with $100 million from the Treasury, the Attorney General hired Special Prosecutors to prosecute offenses investigated by the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU), an organisation funded from the budget of the Ministry of the Presidency, and whose officers take political directions from various functionaries of the Government. These Special Prosecutors are issued with a fiat by the DPP, which says that they are retained at no cost to the state, but in fact are bankrolled to the tune of $100 million, paid from the Attorney General’s budget.
These prosecutors are all handpicked, and are closely connected to this Government. Two occupy the former law office of the Attorney General on South Road; one occupies the former law office of another minister of Government; one is the brother of a minister, and the other was on the APNU List of Candidates for the 2015 elections. For the year 2018, the Attorney General has budgeted over $250 million to pay lawyers whom he plans to retain in that year.
The year 2017, also saw the Government hounding out of office Carvil Duncan, the Chairman of the Public Service Commission, a member of the Police Service Commission, and a member of the Judicial Service Commission. Mr. Duncan was invited to the Ministry of the Presidency, where he was offered a package to resign, with the President saying to him, “I do not want blood on my carpet”. When Mr. Duncan refused, a tribunal was established with the design to remove him from office. The legality of this tribunal was challenged in the court. The Judge who was hearing this matter was abused, vilified and intimidated by the Attorney General in open court.

Sincerely,
Mohabir Anil Nandlall, MP
Attorney-at-Law