Dear Editor,
As a working-class law student who has just completed my three years at the University of Guyana, Law Department, I cannot allow the recent achievement of Minister of Legal Affairs/ Attorney General Basil Williams to go unheralded.
I refer to his recent successful parliamentary motion which resulted in the allocation of $17.9M (approximately) to assist those of us who are attending or proceeding to the Hugh Wooding Law School, St Augustine Campus, UWI. It is a tremendously challenging prospect for working-class students who must pay the full cost of tuition at Hugh Wooding in Trinidad and Tobago, for apart from the steep fees there are also the costs associated with boarding and lodging and other associated expenses.
A past administration had ceased assisting Guyanese law students bound for Trinidad with any portion of their overall economic costs. So kudos to our Attorney-General and the Granger administration for their kind gesture of resumed assistance. Perhaps it is not merely resumed ‘kindness’ but an appreciation that the national development about to unfold in Guyana will attract the services of varied legal practitioners who will be necessary to give guidance over a wide array of disciplines. The assistance is therefore an investment in the future, in terms of the legal expertise necessary within the context and framework of our national socio-economic thrust.
So, even as I, at my own personal level, have to pursue additional support, I thank on my own behalf ‒ and I daresay all my colleague-students will concur ‒ Attorney General Basil Williams for his thoughtful, constructive initiative.
As one of the twenty-five students about to proceed to Hugh Wooding within weeks, I cannot afford to let him and Guyana down.
Yours faithfully,
Loretta Noel