| – Minister WebsterThough government does not directly fund legal aid in Region 10,Andrew Benintendi Jersey, its advocacy at UNICEF, and recommendations, resulted in Linden’s Legal Aid Centre receiving funds to provide free legal services to residents.This assertion was made to the National Assembly on Wednesday evening by Human Services Minister Jennifer Webster, who emphasised that residents of Region 10 have access to legal aid services like the rest of the country.She stated that Government is supportive of the services being offered in Region 10 by the Linden Legal Aid Centre (LLAC), a Non-Governmental Organization.“Had the Government not advocated for and approved the expenditure on behalf LLAC by UNICEF, funds for the LLAC would never have been disbursed under the Government of Guyana/ UNICEF Country Programme,” Webster said.She stressed that funding was provided to the Centre from August 2008 to August 2009, to the tune of $6.7M, and $6M from December 2009 to December 2010. Meanwhile, during the period April 2011 to December 2011, $9M was provided to meet operating costs.A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) parliamentarian, Vanessa Kissoon, during her presentation to the National Assembly on Tuesday evening had stated that, “It is obvious that the Government does not intend to give any of the taxpayers’ money to Region 10.”“As far as Government is concerned, the company will have to be satisfied with what the aid agencies give to them, since they approve it…But apparently taxpayers’ money is too good for Linden. This Government doesn’t care that the continuation of legal aid in Region 10 can only be guaranteed with taxpayers’ money,” Kissoon argued.She stressed that if this is not the case, the Centre would eventually close, clients would be abandoned and staff sent home.Refuting the APNU MP’s statements, Webster said “It is unfair to say that taxpayers’ money is not good for Region 10. No one in Region 10, or any other Region, who cannot afford legal services, will ever be denied access to those services.”According to Webster, from 1993 to 2008, the sole legal aid provider in Guyana was the Georgetown Legal Aid Clinic, which provided resident services in Georgetown and its immediate environs, as well as non-resident service in Region 10.The Minister noted that to satisfy Government’s manifesto promise in 2006 to expand legal aid services, former Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand had launched legal aid services in Essequibo in June 2008 and in Region Five in October 2008.“This Government has always been supportive of legal aid services, and that is why in the 2012 Budget the sum of $32.338M is being provided,” Webster noted. |
