Supreme Court says protests can proceed
The Leader of the Opposition vowed last week that come this Friday, his supporters would be back on the steps of Independence Hill. And while over the last few days there were doubts that authorities would let Dean Barrow have his way, today the planned demonstration received the thumbs up from the Supreme Court. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports.
Dean Barrow, Leader of Opposition
“This is the best thing that could have happened. We have a clear order of the court, the police understand that they cannot in any way interfere with us either in terms of getting to Belmopan or what we do in Belmopan, so long as we do not break any laws.”
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
After an application by the United Democratic Party for a public protest in Belmopan was denied by the police, today the party appealed the decision in the Supreme Court. At four this afternoon, Abdulai Conteh ordered that “the police be restrained from denying the request” because Acting Commissioner of Police Maureen Leslie failed to give reasons for the refusal.
In presenting the Government’s case, Solicitor General Edwin Flowers argued that the demonstration was denied because on the violence that occurred last week in front of the National Assembly. But the C.J. found that the letter only contained one line: Vis-à-Vis Conditions 2 to 7, which the court could not interpret as one of the three valid grounds of denial: public inconvenience, breach of peace, and obstruction of traffic.
Edwin Flowers, Solicitor General
“The Commissioner did not have the reasons for refusal.”
Janelle Chanona
“Does this mean the police will be advised to write more legal letters next time?”
Edwin Flowers
“I believe so.” [Chuckles]
The court ruling means no binding bond … but according to Barrow, there will still be rules.
Janelle Chanona
“What do you tell your supporters as far as their behaviour knowing that there is that context there?”
Dean Barrow
“Well that they must be absolutely energised by this great victory of their party in the courts of this country, that it means though that we are once again being shown how good it is to believe in the rule of law and the rule of law also means that if you are going to have a protest, you do not engage in violence.”
“At the end of the day, why is not the Prime Minister thinking in terms of these considerations, and why is he not doing anything to avert any possibility of chaos on Friday? He has as well to be held to the flame. We in the U.D.P. will try to do our part, but please the Prime Minister is a huge player in all of this, he is the hugest player in all this, he is the cause of all this and surely he must be held to account in terms of what may or may not happen on Friday in Belmopan.”
Janelle Chanona
“By that do you mean withdrawing his motion before the House?”
Dean Barrow
“That would certainly be the easiest way to go, but I’m sure he’s proved so ingenious in in fact signing onto to all these guarantees and loan notes and settlement deeds without the knowledge of the public, that ingenuity can serve him in good stead and he can find other ways to avert the possibility of strife even short of withdrawing the motion. That’s for him to do, he put himself in that position, he needs to get himself out but he needs to recognise that really he needs to get the nation out as well and that history will judge him and that the people will judge him terribly if he makes absolutely no effort to deal with this matter.”
The U.D.P. is now planning to hold a public rally at eight-thirty on Friday morning in Belmopan before the demonstration, set to run between nine and three. Simultaneously, the Opposition is planning a national shutdown as another form of protest.
John Saldivar, Coordinator
“Too many to call really, but all the unions, the schools, U.B., the churches, all that have traditionally been our social partners in these kinds of actions.”
And while their supporters can protest outside, at a press conference this morning, the U.D.P. discussed the matter of the Universal Health Services motion now on the table of the House of Representatives. The Opposition Leader contends that in its eagerness to settle the U.H.S. debt, the Musa administration is planning to legislate a quid pro quo for Michael Ashcroft: an act that would see the transfer of the assets of Belize Telecommunications Limited to another company, Belize Telemedia.
Dean Barrow
“I really don’t understand this government. That so-called discount is in any event, completely rejected by the people of this country, so it’s not advanced the cause of the Prime Minister in the slightest, yet we have to pay for it by getting the legislature involved in this private commercial dispute between two giants quarrelling over B.T.L.”
And while the vesting bill will be passed on Friday, Barrow says the U.H.S. motion will ultimately be overthrown in the courts.
Dean Barrow
“I don’t see how in the absence of a law, an act of parliament by way of a motion, the National Assembly can say that what was done illegally, what was done in violation of an act of parliament, the Finance and Audit Reform Act, is now to be made legal by way of a mere motion. In the hierarchy of actions that the legislature can take, a motion has to be low on the totem pole by far than an actual act of parliament. So leaving aside for a moment the question of whether if the Prime Minister had come by way of a bill for an act, he might have been able to get away with it, it is my considered view that as it is currently crafted, there is no way that will withstand a court challenge.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.
According to a release from the Belize National Teachers Union, they are calling for a rally and protest of their own on Friday beginning at nine at the Belmopan Community Centre.
