Min Williams address erroneous claims by former AG

DPI, GUYANA, Thursday, December 7, 2017

Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams S.C, slammed Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Anil Nandlal for his erroneous claims during the fourth day of debates on the 2018 National Budget in the National Assembly.

As the debate continued into the evening, Minister Williams discredited the former AG handling of law reform.

Minister Williams noted that under the previous administration, law reform was “in a terrible state”.

Minister Williams said that he had encountered donor fatigue when he assumed office back in 2015. He explained that his proposal for the hiring of part-time judges to address the backlog in cases was “flatly refused” by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

“The very first exercise under the last administration, the backlog exercise that they paid for increased the backlog and enriched certain persons. They are in no position to tell us anything on this side of the house. In two and half years we’ve been cleaning up the mess they left and we will continue to clean them up,” Minister Williams stated.

The Minister also clarified the misinformation on the digital recording for court rooms peddled earlier by Nandlall in his presentation. The IDB funded pilot project under the previous administration was never implemented. “The upshot of it all was that the microphones were hidden inside a store room in the Ministry of Legal Affairs couldn’t be accessed by the Chancellor of the Judiciary and that was the mess we met,” Minister Williams explained.

Minister Williams also noted it was the current administration that returned respect to the constitution after “23 years of jungle rule”.

 

By: Tiffny Rhodius

 

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