It is said that people can be divided into two types: those who want to be something; and those who want to do something. The former in attempting to achieve their personal goal sometimes develop exclusive tendencies; whilst the latter in order to achieve their goal, tend to develop inclusive tendencies.
Like all adages, the above statement is, at least, imperfect. But the recent opening of the Legal Aid Office for Region 6 (Eastern Berbice including the Corentyne and New Amsterdam) is a good example of attempting to do something.
Legal aid involves providing legal services to persons who cannot otherwise afford them. The worker who has been wrongfully dismissed but who cannot afford the cost of seeking justice; the woman who has been brutally evicted by her husband or partner and does not know what to do; the tenant who needs advice but after paying for food and rent has no funds; the elderly person living on a small pension who occupies premises on family land and despairingly sees their neighbour’s tractor ploughing it up. These people frequently exist outside the legal system, not because that system does not have a remedy for their dilemma, but because they do not have the capacity to approach the court or to obtain proper legal advice.
In 1983 a group of lawyers, encouraged by a Jesuit Priest named Michael Campbell Johnson, decided to establish a Legal Aid Clinic in Georgetown. To do so they had to obtain the approval and participation of four lawyers’ associations – two barrister’s associations (one official and government supported and controlled; one unofficial and striving for an independent bar) a small group of young lawyers and an association of solicitors only (the division between solicitors and barristers existed then).
The Legal Aid Centre in Georgetown was opened with much fanfare for such a small enterprise. The Minister of Justice made a speech which indicated that he welcomed the centre, particularly with its limited resources the government could not afford the necessary funds to establish a legal aid system in Guyana.
The 1970s were a period of great political protest, culminating in the 1978 referendum. Against this background the government of the day regarded the Legal Aid Centre and those who ran it with suspicion and regarded the funding of the centre by the Inter-American Foundation, a U.S. agency, as interfering in our internal affairs.
To counter this hostility the Legal Aid directors sought and obtained the assistance of the Caribbean Council of Churches, but by 1983 when CCC funding ceased the centre was forced to close its operations, which never expanded much beyond Georgetown.
After the 1992 elections, the first since 1964 to reflect the will of the voters, a new generation of lawyers, with the support of some of the old stalwarts approached the newly elected government for help in establishing another legal aid system. Promises were obtained with the help of the government and some PL480 funding was allocated to Legal Aid with the government‘s consent and support. A new legal aid company was incorporated, Georgetown Legal Aid Clinic (GLAC). It was independent of the government, as was its predecessor, and has remained so.
But its aim was more extensive than its predecessor, and over the years with government’s assistance it has extended its operations from Georgetown to the Essequibo coast, West Coast Berbice and now to Region 6. As Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Priya Manickchand indicated in her speech at the opening of the Region 6 clinic, that the independence of the Legal Aid Company is respected (of course subject to financial accountability). Excellent relations seem to exist between the lawyers managing and directing legal aid and the government officers from the Minister down including regional officers, social workers, probation officers and others. The Minister herself has served as a regular legal aid volunteer and understands the limitations and opportunities of the system from the bottom up.
The Georgetown centre now employs three lawyers full time, one of whom attends Fort Wellington Court in West Coast Berbice; the Essequibo Coast centre has one full time lawyer; and now another full time lawyer runs the Region 6 legal aid office.
Some UG law students offer their voluntary services to the Georgetown centre. Support staff includes typists, legal clerks and social workers. Lawyers and non-lawyers sit on the Board of GLAC without remuneration.
In these times when so much is wrong with our political culture and so much more can be done if it is changed by a collective act of will, the inter-relationship between the government and private sector that exists in respect of the re-establishment of a legal aid system is indeed welcome.
It may be a small step, but if we would look and learn how to walk quietly with others, it may be the beginning of a journey of a thousand miles.
