The People’s Progressive Party on Monday made known its concerns over a Memorandum of Understanding that was recently signed between the Government of Guyana and the University College of the Caribbean and the Law College of Americas for the establishment of a law school in Guyana.
In a statement at the party’s Monday press conference, PPP Member of Parliament, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, said he has never heard of the two entities that the government has partnered with for the new law school and he wants to know if graduates of the school will be recognised across the region and will be allowed to be admitted to the bar.
“By signing this MOU is Guyana not violating its treaty obligations with its Caribbean counterparts? Is Guyana now exiting the Council of Legal Education Agreement? Did anyone address their mind to the implications this insular move will have for Guyana at the Regional level? Is Guyana now violating its own laws – The Council of Legal Education Chapter 4:04 Laws of Guyana? Is the AG even aware of these profound implications? If so, did he fully apprise Cabinet of the same”, Nandlall questioned.
He said he would also like to know “what quality-control scrutiny, or what steps, if any, have been taken to verify and authenticate the academic integrity and standards of these two virtually unknown institutions- the University College of the Caribbean and the Law College of Americas.”
During the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, Attorney General Basil Williams told the media that while the JOF Haynes Law School will be a partnership between the Guyana Government and the two educational institutions, it will still fall under the CARICOM Council of Legal Education, which had given permission for Guyana to establish its own law school twenty years ago, under the previous government.
Williams also said that the school will follow all of the guidelines of the CLE and will have the best lecturers available.
Anil Nandlall
The Government of Guyana is looking to open the doors to the Law School by 2018. Once that is done, Guyanese law graduates will have another option to complete their legal education studies.
Currently, only the top 25 law graduates from the University of Guyana are offered spaces at Trinidad’s Hugh Wooding Law School. Guyana has been battling to offer more help to law students over the years.
But former Attorney General Nandlall told members of the media that it is the Council of Legal Education that runs and manages the law schools which are established by the Council in the region.
“This arrangement is forty-four (44) years old. The Council of Legal Education is an institution within CARICOM. There are three (3) law schools established under this arrangement: the Hugh Wooding Law School, in Trinidad and Tobago, the Norman Manley Law School, in Jamaica and the Eugene Dupuch Law School, in the Bahamas.”
Nandlall also wants to know “what assurances do we have that their programs, their courses of study and their certification will be recognized even in the Caribbean, worse yet, further afield? To which reputable and known academic institutions or professional bodies are they accredited or, with which they share affiliation? What consultations, if any, were done with the legal profession to solicit their views on this proposed venture? What feasibility studies, if any, were done to determine whether this proposed law school is likely to be a viable venture?”
Nandlall said that “under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government, Guyana has long signaled its intention to have a regional law school located here.”
The PPP spent 23 years in office and left office without establishing any law school in the country.
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