Attorney General excluded from Oil and Gas forum for Judiciary

Mar 10, 2018 ExxonMobil, News

A section of the audience during yesterday’s proceedings of the oil and gas forum

A forum that is being held at the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel to deepen the understanding of judicial officers in the areas of oil and gas has come in for scathing criticisms.
It is being claimed by those in attendance that the planners of the forum have exhibited disrespect for the Office of the Attorney General.
Kaieteur News understands that the two-day forum was made possible through the efforts of the Guyana Bar Association and that of the Judiciary. Hired presenters include University of West Indies, (UWI) Oil and Gas Law Lecturer, Alicia Elias-Roberts and Upstream Energy Expert, Helena Inniss.
This newspaper was reliably informed that initially, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, was not invited. It was also explained that the Bar Association later expressed to the AG Chambers that they would be happy to have him at the event. Still, no formal invitation was issued to the Leader of the Bar.
Additionally, some members of the Bar said that while it is understood that the Minister of Legal Affairs is out of the country, with an invitation, one would have been able to secure representation from a senior member of the AG’s Chambers.
There was also great resistance during the planning stage for Williams to provide opening remarks. The disrespect to the Attorney General’s Office has also led to him putting a note in his Chambers that no legal officer should attend the said function.
In the meantime, Bar Association Head, Kamal Ramkarran, said that he was not aware of the matter. He noted that those in attendance were invited via email. He said that lawyers had to pay a fee to register for the event. He was unable to say if the Attorney General was invited to the Conference at all.