3 amendments to constitution brought before House
But before the hurly burly of the House, three amendments were proposed by the Prime Minister Barrow: to replace the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice as the final Appellate Court and to appoint an attorney who is not a member of the National Assembly as Attorney General. But the most controversial deals with an amendment which would allow members of the National Assembly to hold more than one nationality. Prime Minister Barrow said that none of the members on his side of the House are under allegiance to a foreign power. And that the recognition of dual citizenship in Belize was a cause which was trumpeted by Phillip Goldson.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“So many Belizeans who had migrated, especially to the United States, continue to rally round the flag, continue to demonstrate phenomenal patriotism. In the days when the threat from Guatemala was a clear and present danger, Belizeans such as Compton Fairweather, who had migrated to the U.S., formed the freedom committee to help to protect this country; demonstrated, picketed at the U.N., appeared before decolonization committees. And Phillip Goldson said these people who had supported him so fully in his struggle to ensure the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Belize should not be deprived of their Belizean citizenship, merely because the circumstances which they found themselves in in the United States, impelled them to acquire American citizenship.”
“The current position, as I tried to explain, is that the only people who are disqualified are the Belizeans that acquire a second citizenship. That’s precisely the injustice; that others who are original foreigners, so to speak, who then acquire a Belize citizenship are not disqualified. If you are a Guatemalan born, before you can acquire Belizean nationality, you must renounce your Guatemalan citizenship. The constitution and the amendment that we’re proposing makes clear that if it moves in the other direction; if you’re a Belizean, who for some reason, goes and acquires a Guatemalan citizenship, you ought not to because, the two citizenships-holding—both citizenships is in conflict. But if for some reason you’re able to, you are disqualified even under the proposed amendment. It reserves the disqualification with respect to anybody who has a second citizenship of a country that does not completely recognize the territorial integrity of Belize. So, what you’re suggesting can’t happen, even under the new proposed amendment.”
“Firstly, we’re looking to replace the Privy Council as the final appellate court for Belize and to replace it with the Caribbean Court of Justice. I don’t think that there will be too much controversy about that particular move. This was something that the last government attempted to do. They didn’t have the requisite constitutional majority that we in a opposition sought to extract some concessions from them by way of the larger reform process. This bill will be taken to the people by the Constitution and Foreign Affairs Committee of the House. There will be this ninety day period during which the public discussions, public debates led by the Constitution and Foreign Affairs Committee will take place.”
“The third objective, Mr. Speaker, of the Belize Constitution Amendment Bill 2009, is to provide for the appointment of the Attorney General, irrespective of membership of either of the Houses of National Assembly. As the constitution now stands, a clear—the special position of the Attorney General as the only minister who must have these particular professional qualifications, is recognized. As the constitution now stands, you can appoint an acting Attorney General who doesn’t sit in either House. There is no other minister that you can appoint in an acting capacity who is not drawn from either House. So there is nothing sinister about this. The constitution already goes some way in recognizing that the Attorney General is in a special position.”
