Bar Association Blasts Barrow

It may have taken an inordinate amount of time and an exceptional display of 'unseemly' behavior by the head of government, but the Bar Association came to life this week with a fairly withering list of resolutions aimed at Mr. Barrow and stemming from his blatant move to remove the Chief Justice from the bench, as has been declared by the leader of the nation, not a day after his 65th birthday. The intent of the Prime Minister had been evident for some weeks now, but that word was given flesh, so to speak, at a recent meeting between Mr. Barrow and Chief Justice Conteh.

In a letter to the Governor-General advising of his demitting the Bench, the Chief Justice writes that while he will attain his 65th birthday on August 5th, there are provisions in the Constitution which provide for a continuance of service. These provisions have been utilized in the recent past, wrote the Chief Justice, principally because of the critical manpower situation on the Bench. That section of the Constitution, stated Conteh, provides for a Judge to "continue in office for so long after attaining that age as may be necessary to enable him to deliver judgments or to do any other thing in relation to proceedings that were commenced before him before he reached that age."

But despite having 5 reserved judgments to conclude and deliver and ten part-heard cases, the Chief Justice was told that his staying on would not be agreeable to the Prime Minister since that fellow had promised and stated that the Chief Justice would vacate office on his birthday. With no option granted by the head of government, the Chief Justice had no option but to reassign the cases before him, a situation which he writes will naturally "occasion inconvenience, delay and expense to the parties as they would have to be heard afresh before other judges."

The unnecessary problems which will arise from the enforced departure of the Chief Justice and the indecent haste and urgency with which Mr. Barrow has approached the situation are what prompted the very strong release from the Bar Association. The Association starts out by reminding the Prime Minister, something which should not be necessary, that the "independence of the Judiciary is an indispensable pillar of the rule of law and of our democracy."

Then the Association wades in swinging with a figurative baseball bat, expressing "disapproval of the unseemly manner in which the tenure of the Chief Justice has been treated by the Government of Belize."

The Association supported the Chief Justice's view that the Constitution provides for him to continue in office to enable him to deliver judgments and cases before him. For that reason, the resolution states, "the Bar Association expresses the firm view that the Chief Justice is entitled to continue in office, with all the plenitude of the powers of the office without any interference from the Executive until the office is demitted."

The Association goes one very serious step further, and requests in the spirit of transparency and accountability, that it be accorded a "meaningful role and input in the appointment of the Chief Justice and Judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal of Belize, including all acting appointments."

That the Bar Association felt compelled to issue the statement it did is a stunning indictment of Mr. Barrow. It has long been felt by Belizeans that the Prime Minister has exerted undue influence in the workings of the Judiciary. In its editorial this week, the People's United Party makes its position clear – "For some time now, this government has been rushing headfirst down the perilous, unconstitutional path to outright control by the Executive of the Judiciary. It is not just that the Prime Minister chose to appoint his brother to the Court of Appeal, where that conflict of interest has forced the brother to withdraw himself from the court's deliberations; or that by using legislative stealth, the UDP government has instituted one year contracts for Court of Appeal judges, effectively putting them under the heel of the ruling politicians; or that the PM has now appointed a withered, unelected Attorney General. It is not only that the Solicitor General, no doubt acting on political instructions, had clumsily attempted to throw out the CJ by way of early retirement leave, as if the Chief Justice was no more than a useless clerk."

The Prime Minister in trademark fashion issued a release in response to that of the Bar Association, discounting their allegations and their request for input in appointments to the Bench. The Belize Times is convinced that his usual disdain for real issues will not be tolerated in this instance.

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Source: The Belize Times