Guyana has been working with obsolete Civil Procedure Rules for more than six decades

Guyana which gained political independence more than 50 years ago and produced more outstanding legal scholars than any country in the region, was operating on outdated, obsolete, and antiquated Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) for more than six decades, while countries in the region are functioning on modern and effective rules and procedures. Trinidad and Tobago’s CPR was initiated in 1998; the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in 2000; Jamaica, 2002; Belize 2005; and Barbados 2008. It is unbelievable that Guyana’s CPR have been in force since 1955.

It is heartening to see that President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Sir Denis Byron, was in Georgetown for the seminar which was organized to mark the occasion. Acting Chancellor Carl Singh must be congratulated as the acting Chief Justice, Yonette Cummings-Edwards stated in her address. The efforts for the CPR rules started since the time of Chancellor Desiree Bernard with assistance from Chancellor Kenneth George.

The CPR is like the legal bible which must be followed by legal practitioners aimed at improving the administration of justice and simplifying the processes to enable the courts to deal with cases justly and speedily.

The administration must work towards implementing a court reporting system to ease the burden of judges writing the testimony of witnesses as well as submissions made by prosecutors and defence lawyers. This will expedite the hearing process and is a modern-day trend which was in force in the Eastern Caribbean more than 15 years ago. I have no doubt that the CCJ President who was Chief Justice in the Eastern Caribbean for a number of years, and who believes in modern technology can be of great help to Guyana in this regard. International institutions should also be tapped for technical and other assistance.

The executive arm of government must work in harmony with the judicial branch in order to dispense justice in a more efficient and expeditious manner, and the Guyana Bar Association and other organizations which represent lawyers should also be more vigilant.

Yours faithfully, Oscar Ramjeet