9th Amendment injunction case in Court
The House of Representatives is scheduled to meet at ten a.m. on Friday to pass the controversial Ninth Amendment Bill following the prescribed ninety-day consultation period after its introduction in the House. An hour prior to the sitting a ruling will be delivered by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin on that piece of legislation. The proposed changes to Section Sixty-Nine of the Belize Constitution, drafted to enshrine into law the nationalization of the public utilities, were tabled in the House on July twenty-second. A series of countrywide consultations were later held to garner public support for the passage of the bill. During that time a petition, organized by Friends of Belize, was also launched to gather a minimum of ten percent of signatures from the electorate to trigger a referendum on the Ninth Amendment. Upon completion of the exercise a total of approximately twenty-one thousand names had been achieved despite the imminence of government proceeding with the passage of the bill. In a last minute attempt to stave off the signing of the bill a team of high profile attorneys led by Queen’s Counsel Lord Peter Goldsmith filed into the Supreme Court this afternoon, on behalf of Vaughn Gill and Ricardo Castillo, to apply for an interim injunction barring Governor General Sir Colville Young from signing into law the proposed Ninth Amendment Bill. The court order seeks to preclude government from putting to the House of Representatives the proposed bill until after a national referendum is held. Appearing on behalf of G.O.B. was Solicitor General Cheryl Krusen.
This is a disgrace! I strongly believe that the so called ‘consultation’ is no reflection on the people’s voice. A couple thousand people were heard from around the country, mostly UDP supporters. This country has a population of over 330,000 people and no one man can speak for a dozen, I don’t care who you are! THIS GOVERNMENT HAS TO GO! HOW CAN THEY RUN A COUNTRY AND NOT LISTEN TO THEM???
I second that Lisa. I would have love to see your name up for leader of PUP.
Belizeans are afraid to stand up for what they believe because they are afraid of been victimized by the politicians.Sometimes i wonder if our leaders really understand the definition of the word democracy.
The real information has been lost in these series of consultatuions because1) The lawyers are busy spinning 2) The politicians are only interested in making political mileage!
Take those two issues and look at the realities of the pros and cons of nationalization. Do not ride as per political affiliation! That is stupid! Yes, I said it, it is stupid! Just because I am a PUP I am against nationalization and if I am UDP I am for it! Really? And the amount of misinformation that is being thrown about is unbelievable! This polarisation does not bode us well.
wonder why politicians go out of their way to get legislations pass? ans. they have deep interest in them, personal gain, corruptions.
wonder why my poor ole bzean get onto the mike and say “yes” to the nine? cause they dont know better or fail to research the whole truth of the matter, they are supporters of the current party and have no other choice.
wonder why our country going down the drain? POLITICS. our country are run by politics at all levels. all politicians are a bunch of crooked thieves and liers. if u put them all in a bag u dont know who will come out first.
its sad to see our beautiful country going to dogs because of greedy politicians. if we only had honest and hardworking leaders we would not be in the situations we are in.
take a look at spanish lookout. these people came to this country with nil and are in the highest living standards in our country. look at the community, infrastructures, their personal developments,. we should use them as examples. but we belizeans dont work together they try to bring down others that are trying. look at the senseless killings and robbing.
but all this stems from the top. too much greed just too much. we wont get it right if we dont start from the top. we need honest leaders in our country, we need people are in it for development of the country and not for themselves. if this happens then everything will fall in place.
When ever politicians are pushing so hard to get something done that many do not agree with trust me it is not good and will never be good!
I would like to see them work this hard to lowere the crime rate, gail the drug dealers and provide much needed services. They would be elected for life if they would do this. This is the staging for something that is not good! All you who suports this mess will also punish.
If over 20,000 signatures could have been gotten in such short time juts think how many more are out there who do not agree.