Hiring legal counsel to be on front burner when parliament resumes

Raphael Trotman

Obtaining the services of full-time legal counsel to serve Parliament Office will be a priority once the National Assembly comes out of recess in October, Speaker Raphael Trotman says.
Currently, such services are provided by Cecil Dhurjon, who is Chief Parliamentary Counsel within the Ministry of Legal Affairs but Trotman said yesterday that there needs to be a de-linking of Parliament Office from government if the institution is to function independently.

Trotman told Stabroek News that the road to having Parliament Office retain its own legal counsel began some time ago and he noted that he led a delegation on a trip to London during which they engaged the Chief Parliamentary Counsel of the British Parliament. Following that meeting, the Speaker said, he was sent information which was to assist in setting up a similar service in the local Parliament Office.

In addition to these developments, he said that earlier this year Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs and his