Attorney-at-law Christopher Ram was elected president of the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) when a new executive council was elected for the fiscal year 2015/2015, at an AGM held recently.
In his remarks Ram said as is customary the new Bar Council would meet with newly appointed Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams to discuss a substantive agenda of issues and legislation to be pursued by the government and the role of the association in those efforts. He also noted that the GBA’s dwindling membership is an immediate challenge of the new executive.
Ram thanked the outgoing executive council president Ronald Burch-Smith for his leadership over the last two years and the commendable achievements of the previous Bar Council, a press release from the GBA said.
The newly elected executive council comprises vice presidents Abiola Wong-Innis and Mark Waldron; secretary Sadie Amin; treasurer Mohamed Ali and assistant secretary Natasha Vieira. The committee members are Burch-Smith, Teni Housty, Glenn Hanoman, Ramona Rookhum, Keshia Chase and Tanicia Daniels.
The outgoing executive council presented various reports which were endorsed and accepted by the members present. These include the reports of the president, secretary, treasurer and auditors. Demitting president, Burch-Smith spoke on the efforts of Guyana (as a member of the Council of Legal Education) to bring some amount of certainty on the issue of Guyanese law students and admission to the Hugh Wooding Law School; engagements with former attorney general Anil Nandlall on a range of issues affecting the fraternity and the public and other aspects of the GBA’s continuing work as set out in its mandate.
Meanwhile, the new team has prepared a menu of measures to further the work and visibility of the association which includes adequate representation on entities that the GBA has representatives; more collaboration with local law students and the Faculty of Law of the University of Guyana, its sister association the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers, regional and international bar associations and other stakeholders; continued publication of law journals, meaningful interaction with the Senior Bar and mentoring of junior attorneys-at-law.
The new president has held several positions on previous bar councils in addition to his years of being a respected chartered accountant with immense competency in company and other areas of law, the press release said.
