Public officers attend legal risk awareness training |03 March 2023

Ms Mohideen addressing the gathering

Chief executives and principal secretaries from government ministries and public sector bodies took part in a legal risk awareness training yesterday morning at The Guy Morel Institute, aimed at helping them to acquire a better understanding of public law and other areas of law applicable to their work.

The workshop, hosted by the Public Service Bureau in collaboration with the Attorney General office, was also an opportunity for the Attorney General’s office to provide officials with a more informed understanding of the role government lawyers can play in helping them achieve their policy and delivery aims.

The workshop facilitator, lawyer Muhammad Saley, said the aim of the training was to upgrade the officers’ skills to ensure the decisions they make withstand scrutiny and are taken within the rule of law.

“The basic principle is to try and make sure that decision is improved, and that the credibility of governments through those decisions, has improved and therefore fairness and rule of law is upheld,” he said.

Among the issues covered were judicial review and its importance, separation of powers, Constitutional and legislative framework, among others.

The chief secretary of the Public Service Bureau (PSB), Shella Mohideen, said there was a need to get all the senior officers under one roof to discuss how to make decisions in line with the laws that govern the work they do.

“We, as accounting officers when making decisions, always have to ask ourselves what are the risk that follows this type of decision and to know the risk, we need to know the legal framework under which we work,” she said.

According to PSB it is also a way for senior officers to have better knowledge on the role of the Attorney General’s office and how to work with the entity, as well as strengthen their partnership.

Diane Larame

Photos by Louis Toussaint