Chief Justice says the wall must come down

It may not have blossomed into a major public controversy, but to the business people who have invested millions at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, the issue of the wall could not be bigger. Today the Supreme Court made its ruling in the civil suit, saying the obstructions must go. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports.

Christian Riveroll, Manager, Brown Sugar Market Place
“Whatever they have invested, their money, their time, their effort, they can now open up their business, we are working towards opening up fully.”

Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Investors in the Brown Sugar Market Place were in high spirits this morning as Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh ruled that the walls barring their property and that of Harbour View companies from the boardwalk along the Haulover Creek must come down within fourteen days.

Christian Riveroll
“We have maintained from the beginning Janelle, that we are willing to work with the Fort Street Tourism Village like the judge said, like the Chief Justice said, the whole area is designated as a port facility and we want to be I.S.P.S. ready and compliant. We’ve maintained that from the beginning and that’s what we’ll do. We want to work with them. This is one industry that needs to grow.”

Janelle Chanona
“But you can only work so much because you are competing.”

Christian Riveroll
“Absolutely. But we will work together, they’re neighbours we have to work with them.”

The battle for access to the boardwalk has been fought for the past four years. While attorneys for the Fort Street Tourism Village argued that the walls were in line with the regulations of the International Ship and Port Facility Security code and their exclusivity contract with the Government of Belize, during trial, senior counsel Dean Barrow admitted money was at the heart of the matter.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow, Attorney, F.S.T.V. (June 26th 2007)
“But you can understand how there is perhaps some degree of bad blood between the Fort Street Tourism Village and these claimants, Michael Colin and Brown Sugar because Michael Colin and Brown Sugar went to get duty free status to compete in the same area as the Fort Street Tourism Village when they knew that at that time the Fort Street Tourism Village was in possession of what was supposed to be exclusive duty free status for cruise ship passengers. I don’t blame the Michael Colin Gallery and Brown Sugar, for going and getting an additional duty free status, but then you can’t blame Fort Street either for being upset about that when Fort Street set up the Village on the basis that they would have a duty free monopoly. So it’s all as you said about the commercial considerations and the commercial competition.”

In his thirty-page ruling, Chief Justice Dr. Abdulai Conteh referred to Barrow’s statement and ruled that while it may have been unfair of the Village to grant boardwalk access only to the Wet Lizard, it did deny them the right to earn a living so the structures must be removed.

Fred Lumor, Attorney, Harbour View
“Millions of dollars are involved in this case so I anticipate an appeal.”

But while his clients were celebrating, Fred Lumor, attorney for Harbour View, is certain the Fort Street Tourism Village will not let the matter rest with the Supreme Court ruling.

Fred Lumor
“We will ask that the walls be taken down for the time being to give access to everybody whilst we examine the case. Nothing, if in the future, their successful, the wall can be put back there in twenty-four hours, so we’ll see how they respond to the judgment. I hope that we can cooperate with the Belize Tourism Village so that my clients can also recoup the sum of the loss, some of the loss that they’ve been incurring for the past four years.”

Janelle Chanona
“The judge said they won’t get damages.”

Fred Lumor
“No damages were awarded so the earlier they start making money, I think it would be in their interest.”

Of interest to Lumor is the fact that the Chief Justice was not persuaded to declare that his clients’ were denied due process and protection under the law.

Fred Lumor
“The refusal of equal protection of the law issue is not only relevant to this case, it’s all relevant to the interpretation of the Belize Constitution so it’s something of interest to me and of interest to the other counsels. We feel that the interpretation the Chief Justice gave to that section six of the Constitution is limiting the ambit of the constitutional provision rather than giving it a generous application. We are going to examine it to see whether that aspect of the judgment should be accepted or we should also appeal that section of it.”

While we have not likely heard the last word in the dispute, the court did point out that if the Port Authority, the Government of Belize and the Belize City Council had acted properly in monitoring the construction of the boardwalk, much of the legal mess could have been avoided. Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.