Espat Calls on Judiciary to “Referee” Quarrel with Speaker

Julius Espat

Since the incident, Espat confirmed that his four-thousand-dollar monthly salary has been withdrawn. There has not been any House meeting since August, but Espat believes the ugly incident constitutes an illegal act and as such he is not only fighting to return to the House but he also wants his constituents to be heard. After the case management this morning, he explained his case.

Julius Espat, Area Representative, Cayo South

“There are rules and regulations in the House of Representatives – it’s called the Standing Orders, and in that case the Speaker did not follow the Standing Orders to be able to suspend a member. You have to understand that the Speaker does not have the authority to suspend a member; only the House has. So he has to call a vote of the House to have that happen and it did not happen. So we are confident that our case is a good one.”

Reporter

“But can you go back to what exactly transpire there, because as I recall Minister Elrington got up to make the suggestion?”

Julius Espat

“He can make as many suggestions as he wants, but there are procedures they have to follow. To start with, they have to ask for an apology, which was never done. I offered one, it was never accepted. Secondly, the Speaker has to name you, not another member of the House. Thirdly, the Minister from Pickstock rose to give his part of what he believed should have happened. And at the end of the day, nobody…the Speaker did not ask for a vote. And so, it was a series of errors that were committed along the way. And in the end everybody knows what happened – I was forcibly removed. It is an illegal act. My fight is to stand up for what we Belizeans believe is right and wrong. You have to understand that if we believe in democracy – we have three branches of Government, the Executive; the Legislature, and the Judiciary. And the judiciary should play a role; meaning, they are the ones that are the judges, they are the ones that are the referees if we should have a disagreement. And we are leaning on that branch right now to prove to us what is right and what is wrong.”

The defence which was represented by the Attorney General, Nigel Hawke is to file their case in writing by November fifteenth 2016, and the next court hearing is set for November twenty-second, 2016 before the Chief Justice, Kenneth. Benjamin.