Opposition Leader blasts the Prime Minister for attacking the Bar

Samuel Awich

A release from the Office of Prime Minister Dean Barrow late Tuesday evening has stirred a hornet’s nest in the Bar Association. The release targets current and past presidents of the Bar Association Eamon Courtenay, Andrew Marshalleck and Jackie Marshalleck. In a nutshell, it is a spirited defence of the appointment of Court of Appeal Justice Samuel Awich. The Prime Minister points out in the release that what he calls attacks on the court are actionable by the Director of Public Prosecutions. And if that threat is too subtle, the PM makes his meaning clear by stating that Cabinet will actively consider a course of action that will address the situation.  Since his reappointment earlier this month, in the wake of a favorable judgment in the matter of the nationalization of B.T.L. and B.E.L., there has been a firestorm of controversy over government’s decision to reappoint of the justice to the bench. The opposition was among the first to voice its discontent with the reappointment.  In the days that followed, the Bar Association passed a resolution opposing the renewal of the Justice’s contract; Senior Counsels Courtenay and Marshalleck have been outspoken on the issue. Today Opposition Leader, Francis Fonseca, condemned the letter written by the Prime Minister.

Francis Fonseca, Opposition Leader

Francis Fonseca

“The People’s United Party condemns in the strongest possible terms this latest attempt by Prime Minister Barrow to discredit, vilify, intimidate the president of the Bar Association and other members of the association who have publicly expressed their views, as you know, on the reappointment of Justice Samuel Awich to the Court of Appeal.  Regrettably, this is consistent with the behavior of this government, the behavior of this prime minister; petty, personal, vindictive, arrogant, trying to discredit and attack and destroy anyone who holds a different view from that of his own or a different view from his government.  The other point I wanted to make about this release is that I think we all need to say to Dean Barrow, stop the Barrow hypocrisy.  In the release from the Office of the Prime Minister, he went to great lengths to try to discredit individuals who he described as working for the Ashcroft Alliance.  Yes, the lawyers whose names he called have worked from time to time for Lord Ashcroft but so has Mr. Barrow.  Mr. Barrow was Mr. Ashcroft’s lawyer on monthly retainer for some fifteen years and as far as I am aware and somebody can correct me, but as far as I am aware today, he is the only member of the National Assembly, there are thirty-one of us in the National Assembly.  Dean Barrow is the only member of the National Assembly who is cashing Ashcroft’s checks and collecting money from Mr. Ashcroft through his law firm.  So let’s stop the hypocrisy about Ashcroft and all the feigned outrage over Ashcroft’s lawyers when we know what the real facts are.”