G.O.B. versus Landowners Association adjourned

And in the courts, parties embroiled in a legal battle over property rights will have to go back to court in October to conclude their arguments. That is if between now and then they cannot meet an amicable solution. The case started earlier this year when Barry Bowen and the Landowners Association sued the G.O.B. over a proposal to amend a section of the constitution that would take away landowners’ rights to access the courts if government seizes their land. Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh ruled in favour of Bowen and the landowners in the first case. During her arguments on Wednesday in the appeal, Attorney for G.O.B., Lois Young, told the court that government would amend their proposal in such a way that it would not have the effect of taking away landowners’ rights to seek the court’s intervention. But the two sides could not agree on the wording. Today the attorneys for the landowners asked for an adjournment until the October session to give them time to present further arguments. The basis for the case has to do with petroleum and minerals in Belize.