Govt. approves $ 325M for the Justice Reform Program
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC
Kaieteur News – The sum of $ 325 million has been approved for the Justice Sector Reform Program under the Ministry of Legal Affairs’ Capital Expenditure. Attorney General and Minister for Legal Affairs, Hon. Anil Nandlall, SC, told the Delivery Committee on Tuesday that the program will be delivered in three components.
Component One includes the design and implementation of a $ 9.340 million Restorative Justice program; operating a court case management and scheduling system, $ 122.432 million; and pretrial detention and intervention, $ 4.170 million.
Under Component Two, $ 45.713 million was approved for alternative sentence intervention, $ 72.795 million for strengthening probation services, $ 42.752 million for support for the Law Reform Commission and $ 16 million for law review. Component Three includes the implementation of a project for which the sum of $ 11.488 million was approved.
Importantly, the Attorney General said the provision also provides for the initiation of a prosecution program that will see Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree holders and police prosecutors trained and certified by the University of Guyana.
The amounts that will go toward the program, says AG Nandlall, provide for syllabus design and lecturer remuneration. The university will also be paid for managing and providing for the program as well as certifying the students.
Opposition MP, Hon. Khemraj Ramjattan questioned how many people would be certified at the end of the program. In response, the AG explained that an advertisement had been placed and, to date, over 65 people have expressed an interest in the program.
“Once I explain Sir, issues like payroll, I anticipate getting more of a response. That figure does not include police prosecutors who are currently in a system and we intend to engrave them into the program, ”he explained. Once the program is complete, the AG said, prosecutors will be placed in Magistrates Courts throughout Guyana.