Tourism village walls still up; affected companies consider contempt charges
It was big news in early March when Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh ordered the removal of the walls barring the Brown Sugar Marketplace and Habourview companies from the boardwalk along the Haulover Creek. According to the ruling, the obstructions were to come down within fourteen days but exactly a month later, nothing on the waterfront has changed. In special proceedings on Saturday April sixth, the CJ denied a submission by the village’s lawyers to stay his decision. Bolstered by that development, this week lead counsel representing Brown Sugar and Habourview, Fred Lumor sent a letter to the Fort Street Tourism Village indicating that Wednesday was the final day for them to comply. But representatives of Brown Sugar say that informally they agreed to wait until there were no ships in the habour for the walls to come down. That was the case today but the silence out of the tourism village was deafening.
Christian Riveroll, Manager, Brown Sugar Marketplace
“As you can see there is no work being done to take down these walls. These people, what kind of games are they playing? There is a court order to take the walls down and they’re not following it. So that’s where we’re at right now.”
Janelle Chanona
“Do you go back asking the court for a contempt order?”
Christian Riveroll
“Well, that’s certainly something we have to look at. We are in consultations with our attorneys at this point to find out what is the best way to move on from here because the wall are supposed to be removed today or at least the beginnings of it supposed to start today.”
Janelle Chanona
“How frustrating is this for you and your tenants?”
Christian Riveroll
“It is absolutely frustrating Janelle. Everyday we go through it, everyday we’re suffering. Actually, when the case was over in March and the word spread that we had won the case I had so many people coming here saying ho happy they were, how they want jobs, because we have so many jobs here that we can offer these people. We’re willing to work with the City Council as well in placing people in these jobs and so there were so many people coming and there was this wonderful spirit that yes, this wonderful project can go ahead but it’s just being stalled day after day and it’s pretty frustrating.”
Tonight we understand that the Government of Belize, on behalf of the Port Authority, will be filing an appeal against the CJ’s decision in the case. On March eleventh, the Chief Justice ruled that the walls denied Brown Sugar and the Habourview companies the right to earn a living so the structures must be removed.
