Ronald Burch-Smith was returned as President of the Guyana Bar Associa-tion at its Annual General Meeting which was held last Friday.
Also re-elected were Vice Presi-dents, Sadie Amin and Melinda Janki; Secretary, Christop-her Ram; Treasurer, Ramona Rookhum; Assistant Secre-tary/Treasurer Mohammed R Ali and council members Abiola Wong-Inniss, Emily Dodson, Llewellyn John, Timothy Jonas and Teni Housty. The only new member of the council is Sase Gunraj, a release from GBA said.
“The reports of the President, Secretary and the audited annual financial statements for the years 2012 and 2013 were approved by the best attended AGM of the Bar Association for years,” the release said.
The GBA also said that in his written report for 2013, Burch-Smith touched on the resignation of Court of Appeal Judge Rabi Sukul who had been appointed only a few months earlier from the United Kingdom where he had been residing for decades.
“Mr Burch-Smith called for amendments to the Rule of Professional Conduct for Attorneys and the Legal Practitioners Act to strengthen the profession and for increasing the membership. He identified as priorities continuing education and discipline, internal and external communications and promoting the rule of law particularly in matters of interest to the public interest,” GBA said.
Additionally, the release stated that Rookhum reported that the Association had turned a surplus for 2013 on a reduced level of expenditure.
“Ram’s report covered the activities for 2013 but noted that the efficacy of the Association was seriously affected by the absence of any administrative support staff. He referred to the possibility of the Bar Association being designated the supervisory authority for the profession under the Anti-Money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism act,” GBA said.
The release added that following his re-election, Burch-Smith committed the bar to heightened activity, the discharge of its functions and the pursuit of the priorities identified in his 2013/2014 report.
