Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Patricia Scotland said last Friday that the Secretariat supported the just concluded regional anti-money laundering workshop for judges and prosecutors, having recognized the need for judicial independence and integrity.
“The secretariat is absolutely alive to the issue of the independence and the integrity of the judiciary and the legal profession”, she said, before adding that the training done is really important because we need them “objectively to be able to work together and to uphold the rule of law without fear, without favour to anyone.” Baroness Scotland who was speaking at a press conference held at the National Communications Network (NCN) made those comments the very day that this newspaper reported that the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) had objected to the joint training of judges and prosecutors, arguing that this could be seen as impinging on judicial independence. The workshop opened last Thursday and saw Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan and High Court judge Sandil Kissoon along with Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack and Assistant DPP, Teshana Lake representing Guyana on both days.
The GBA had written to Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards on April 25, 2018 objecting to joint training, arguing that it could have the appearance that the judiciary is taking directions from the executive.
