Justice Minnet Hafiz Bertram sworn in as New Justice of Appeal
Turning to the courts, a new Justice to the Court of Appeal has been named in time for the March twelfth sitting of the Court of Appeal. Judge Minnet Hafiz-Bertram took the oath this morning before Governor General, Sir Colville Young, at Belize House in Belmopan. The new justice was joined by Chief Justice, Kenneth Benjamin, and Justices Denis Hanomansingh, Michelle Arana and Courtenay Abel and family members. Prior to her appointment, the Guyanese judge served as a Supreme Court Judge, Register General, Registrar of the Supreme Court and Crown Counsel in the Attorney General’s Ministry. Hafiz-Bertram studied law in Guyana and at the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad and Tobago, where she received her Legal Education Certificate in 1997. Her appointment as a Justice of Appeal will last until she attains the age of sixty-five years, she is now fifty one. Other Justices of the Court of Appeal are the President, Justice Manuel Sosa, and Justices of Appeal, Samuel Awich, Dennis Morrison and Douglas Mendes. It is also reported that a number to changes will take place at the magistracy level.
Whats upwith belize importing judges,lawyers that are not even belizeans?
Good point, @c 19. How does a judge swear to uphold the Belizean constitution when she isn’t even a citizen here?
Maybe GOB can’t find any honest Belizean lawyers, but I don’t believe that’s necessarily so, once you get out of the realm of the cartel lawyers and close relatives and ex-wives of the politicians.
After the revolution I hope we’ll have an honest, home-grown bench.
There are enough criminals in the land to defend in court so the attorneys make more money doing this that being on the bench.
Tehn if you are on the bench and the PM does not like you your contract will not be renewed.
It is also better to have foreign judges on the bench because they have no personal connections with anyone and are more likely to rule on the evidence as it is presented.
I see the logic of @ceo’s point about no personal connections, and that could be a good thing in a small nation like ours where it seems everyone has some connection to everyone else. At the same time, the one personal connection a foreign judge has is with the PM who hired him/her. It’s a difficult issue in our small country, to find judges who can rule as fairly as humanly possible.