IDB Country Representative outlines dynamics of paralegal initiative
-pledges continued support
-Bishop Edghill adumbrates prerequisites for community interventions
AT the launch of the Justice Sector Reform System in Region 9, on Friday, June 15 last, Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, did the honours as representative of Government; and the funding partner, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through its Country Representative Ms Sophie Makonnen, expressed satisfaction at the progress made so far in this initiative that is meant to address the needs of the ordinary person to access swift and real justice through mediation by trained paralegals within community constructs, especially in the hinterland communities, which have traditional mores and rules of engagement on various issues.
Ms Makonnen outlined the initiation of the programme and the various stages that led to the impending implementation, which received its jumpstart through the training programmes conducted for the volunteers who would be taking their newly-acquired skills in mediating peaceful conflict-resolutions back to their respective communities.
She lauded the efforts of the volunteers, who would be integral to the success of the initiative, especially those volunteers from the hinterland. Their enthusiasm, she said, was the determining factor for the pilot project being launched at that community.
According to Ms Melind Janki, Director of the Justice Institute Guyana Inc., up to 2006, various institutional assessment reports had indicated a number of challenges in the justice sector. These included delays and blockages throughout the sector, and absence of joined-up related (institutional) partnerships working, resulting in the entire justice system being negatively impacted, since events in one area of the system will have a direct impact on events in other parts of the system. Management information was sparse, since most institutions still relied heavily upon manual record-keeping systems, making it difficult to gather information to use as a basis for performance assessment and problem-solving.
However, the agency persisted, and the report formed the foundation of the various stages of implementation of the newly-established paralegal system of dispute-resolution; currently in the hinterland, but soon to be introduced countrywide.

Enthusiastic response to paralegal system from Amerindian residents
The pilot Paralegal System in Region Nine — which is primarily structured to address dispute-resolution problems in hinterland communities, taking into consideration the peculiar needs and lifestyles of Guyana’s first peoples — while ensuring that processes followed and rulings made fall within constitutional mores and doctrines of the law generally, and the Amerindian Act specifically, has received overwhelming support from the residents of that region, who have long been deprived of an effective conduit to real justice in their communities.
Only the helpless, vulnerable and dispossessed know the absolute hopelessness of being caught up in the tangles of a justice system where only the monied can purchase justice through high-priced lawyers; and because of the separation of powers, where Government has no powers over the judicial system, it was helpless to intercede and address the unending complaints of the ordinary citizens, who cannot afford the high-priced lawyers. So the months — sometimes years — of long-drawn-out court cases, where sometimes essential witnesses either migrate or die, or even change their minds and their testimonies, thereby prejudicing the outcomes of judicial matters; the disappearance of essential documents, evidentiary exhibits, among other constraining factors, had effectively inhibited and/or retarded the dispensation of justice to the ordinary man.
Government has sought ways of ameliorating human situations and quarrels where the court becomes a last resort in dispute-resolution.
Most vulnerable of any community in Guyana are Guyana’s first peoples; who, because of their traditional ways of life, often fall prey to blandishments and/or manipulations by more sophisticated coastlanders.
Even their own internal disputes prove sometimes too onerous to settle through Guyana’s justice system, as currently obtains.
In his presentation, former Chairman of Region 9 and volunteer paralegal mediator, Mr. Clarindo Lucas, spoke to all the issues outlined above, and expressed the ardent appreciation of his community for the paralegal initiative, which he acclaimed in glowing terms, and lauded both the Government and IDB for choosing Region 9 to launch the initiative.
In his address, Mr. Lucas stirringly said “…in any society, there are many instances of worrying expenses, particularly in poor and unprotected communities. Hinterland residents endure horrible experiences that last a lifetime. There is often no help or support; and these incidents are on the increase. We therefore welcome the paralegal system, because, although we understand our legal rights, access to justice has often been denied us through the current justice system.
“We welcome the paralegal system where we can seek peaceful but legal resolutions to conflicts in our communities, and where the courts would be the last resort.”
Lucas said that interventions by paralegal mediators would ideally be done with honesty and integrity.
Lucas lamented the loss of the deep trust of yesteryears, when there were no doors to homes, much less the need to lock doors, a situation that is now an imperative, as honesty in hinterland communities is increasingly becoming tainted and compromised with the advent of ‘foreigners’ among the once trusting hinterland dwellers. He reiterated the need for cost-effective and timely access to justice, which the paralegal system would provide, because of the consistent and traumatic injustices inflicted on his people, and the hitherto dysfunctional system of justice in hinterland communities.
Chairman of Region 9, Mr. Wilson Laurentino, in a very brief address, agreed with Mr. Lucas that there is a real need for legal advice at the community level.

Bishop Juan Edgehill lauds success of IDB/GoG partnership in people-empowerment initiatives
Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Bishop Juan Edgehill, informed the invitees that the justice reform programme was initiated in 2007 after approval and funding were obtained from the IDB.  According to the Minister, the challenges were many, but were gradually addressed and overcome.
This programme, he asserted, is to access justice to the most vulnerable communities. The reforms to the justice sector, he said, are difficult and take time to implement, but are absolutely necessary, especially for the poor and vulnerable in society, who do not have the wherewithal to pay lawyers and the time to constantly attend court sessions over prolonged periods of continuous postponements.
The Bishop stressed the need for value for money and achieving goals, and lauded the success of partnering with the IDB on several social and infrastructural developmental programmes, the successful implementation of some which he spoke of at the launch of the paralegal system.
“I am a firm believer in alternative dispute resolution,” avowed Bishop Edgehill, “and this programme is designed to deliver justice directly to the people.”
According to the Bishop, this system would ensure that everyone is a winner, unlike the system that prevails in court, where there are winners and losers, with no middle ground or compromise that fits into human equation for contentment and peaceful resolution that would enable protagonists to find common ground to re-establish and/or continue having friendly relations.
Reiterating Government’s commitment to social development and financial growth, not only in the country in general, but at the level of communities and individuals, Bishop Edgehill extolled the Government’s intention to address all the needs of all the peoples in the country, despite all the constraining elements.  In conclusion, he posited, “No matter what the obstacles are, they cannot stop Guyana’s developmental train.”

AG outlines challenges to Justice Sector, and lauds volunteers
In his feature address, Attorney General Anil Nandlall acknowledged extant and disjunctive challenges in the justice sector, and outlined some of the imperatives of the Government’s aggressive pursuit of its vision for Guyana; which includes, inter alia, (i) high value employment creation; (ii) improved standards of living; (iii) dramatic reduction in poverty; (iv) (improving) the rule of law and public safety; (v) protection of individual constitutional rights; and (vi) investments in human resource development.
The Justice Minister reported that, at the end of 2010, of the 28 core poverty reduction indicators, Guyana met or exceeded 16; with the MDGs Status Report of 2010 certifying that Guyana had made progress in 8 of the 11 domestic targets covering goals 1 through 7.
According to the AG, the Justice Sector Reform Strategy (JSRS) is one of the several sector strategies designed to give effect to Government’s vision. Developed in 2005/6 through a wide consultative process, the AG asserted,  the strategy seeks to address issues of security, crime, and violence in support of an environment that is conducive to a favourable investment climate in Guyana.
In his feature address, Minister Nandlall posited that the justice system is the most important foundation on which civility rests, and stressed that the Government has a particular vision that it would like to see evolve in the country, with particular emphasis on people’s station in life.
He reiterated that the justice system is the institution that overlooks and scrutinizes all systems of society to ensure they function in accordance with the prerequisites of the laws of the country.
If citizens of the land are denied access to justice as prescribed by the constitution, then a multiplicity of socio-economic problems arise within the landscape of the families and communities, as well as the general society, the AG warned, and asserted that there is a direct correlation and causal connection between access, or lack thereof, to a platform for justice and  social/economic growth; or conversely, stagnation in society and economic retardation if the justice system is dysfunctional.
Nandlall, visiting Region 9 for the first time since his appointment as AG and Justice Minister, affirmed the Government’s recognition of the need for the justice system to function effectively, and drove the initiative to address the crying needs of citizens for a conflict-resolution apparatus that would take into consideration their traditional mores and financial circumstances.  Hence the joint initiative by the Government and what he termed an important developmental partner, the IDB, to dispense equitable justice to every Guyanese citizen, regardless of geographic location and any other consideration.
Delays in dispensing justice to individuals, posited Nandlall, affects every system in society. He explained at length the various ways civil society is impacted though ineffective and untimely delivery of justice.
This, he noted, is driving similar initiatives in countries worldwide to devise similar strategies outside of the formal legal system, to give speedy resolution to situations of conflict.
The principles fundamental to the success of this initiative, pointed out Nandalall, would involve mediation; with the paralegal adviser acting as a facilitator, while protagonists talk and attempt to find workable formulae to resolve their differences. The system would allow both parties to vent their anger in a civilized way, before attempting to find solutions that would satisfy everyone.
This adjunctive institution is meant to bolster the delivery of justice, and not to replace the current legal system, pointed out Nandlall; and he explained that Government had to address the needs of the people without trespassing on the rights and responsibilities of the judicial arm of the Government, which has absolute
autonomy.
The paralegal system is a historic initiative in Guyana, reflected Nandlal, albeit it exists in consonance with traditional mores and customs inherited from every Guyanese culture of yesteryear.
He spoke glowingly of the IDB as an always-ready and willing developmental partner, and expressed profound appreciation to the volunteers on whose shoulders will rest the success of this innovative justice sector reform programme.
The goal of the JSRS is “Safety, security and access to justice for all; while its stated purpose is “To deliver a justice system that is more trusted, accessible, accountable, and works together to deliver all necessary services effectively and efficiently”.
One of the key pillars of the JSRS, according to the AG, is “improved access to justice, especially for the poor and vulnerable’; with the aim being the establishment of a justice system that is accessible to all, regardless of socio-economic status, gender or ethnicity; with the foregoing being some of the key underpinnings of the current reforms in execution in the sector.

Bishop Juan Edgehill provides brief on project financing and implementation
According to Minister within the Minister of Finance, Bishop Juan Edgehill, the JSRS is funded by the IDB, and was established following consultations with broad-based stakeholder fora. The design is based on recommendations from forty-six Amerindian communities, represented by 135 individuals, including Toshaos and Village Councillors.
The design also takes into account the comments made by state agencies, viz: GFC, GGMC, GLASP, the Ministry of Local Government, the church, NGOs and other sections of civil society.
A stakeholder forum, which also included members of the legal profession and the Guyana Police Force, validated the design.
Component one of the MJAS, which is based on the enhancement of institutional capacity, has been estimated to cost an approximate US$4, 730,000., and will finance activities in the areas of strengthening the Judicial Service Commission; reducing backlog and raising clearance rate; strengthening court administration; enhancing skills and productivity of judges and magistrates; rehabilitating physical infrastructures; improving criminal justice; institutionally strengthening the Ministry of Legal Affairs; drafting civil and criminal procedural laws; and improve other criminal and civil law procedures.
According to Bishop Edgehill, Component 2 targets Strengthening linkages among justice institutions, and is funded to the tune of US$1,209,0100.; with Component 3 – with a funding amount of US$2,077,000. — focusing on improving access to justice.
Bishop Edgehill informed that, under the policy-based component, the Bank made disbursement in two tranches, totalling fifteen million USD.  The first tranche was a sum of US$7,000,000., while the second tranche totalled US$8,000,000.
He said the disbursement of each tranche was subject to the compliance of conditions, precedent and procedures that were established, with the PEU overseeing the completion of the policy-based component in 2011, when the last tranche was disbursed.
Chairing the event, which was held at the Savannah Inn in Lethem, was Ms Claire Singh, REO of Region 9.