A TOTAL sum of $70M has been green-lighted to improve efficiency of the justice system in 2017 and will see a range of training being provided to improve the criminal justice system.These include crime scene investigation and the use of forensic video evidence for judges, magistrates and prosecutors. Of the total sum, some $60M will come from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the remainder from the Government of Canada.
The allocation was approved on Wednesday when the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly considered the budgetary estimates of the 2017 National Budget.
Attorney General Basil Williams, who was grilled by the Opposition about the sums allocated, said that the funds cover expenses associated with equipment and training. Regarding training, he said that Canadian experts will be brought into the country to monitor the results of the training effected to date, and a final report will be drafted in May 2017
He said the project is ongoing, noting that the bulk of it was executed in 2016. Williams explained that the bulk of the equipment associated with the programme was deployed in 2016 and the $10M from the Canadians will address expenses mainly associated with training.
According to Williams, the project entails provisions for alternative sentencing interventions, strengthening of probation services, design and implementation of restorative justice programmes and the implementation of restorative justice programmes.
In addition, the project entails the training of judges and magistrates in the use of alternative to pretrial detention, as well as law reform.
In response to questions regarding the appointment of the Law Reform Commission, Williams said that as soon as the Government receives funding, it will embark on operationalising the commission.
Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall grilled Mr Williams further on the issue of law reform.
But Williams said that “the law reform envisages the Constitution of a Law Reform Commission.”
He differentiated the matter from law revision, for which he noted IDB funding had already been given in the years prior, but the programme was “muddled up” by the last administration.
He said this caused the present Government to be in a prejudiced position as regards future funding on law review.
Meanwhile, following several back-and-forth exchanges in the committee, Williams informed the House that a $19M sum set aside in the 2017 budget will be expended on a vehicle for his official use.
He said the vehicle brand has not been determined.
The Attorney General said that in 2015, there was a transaction which the former Permanent Secretary at the Legal Affairs Ministry had made, resulting in the purchase of what was expected to be a new vehicle, but instead, the ministry received a second-hand vehicle.
He said the transaction was “all part of a system that was to be deployed under the last system.”