This morning Chief Justice Dr. Abdulai Conteh made a significant ruling in the case that Mrs. Hirian Good, the widow of the late Captain Charles Good, is bringing against the Government of Belize for wrongfully terminating her from her job as a school warden in August of this year.
The Chief Justice granted leave for a judicial review, stating that the termination letter that Mrs. Good received in August was deemed to have been improper.
What this translates to in layman’s terms is that the court is giving the go-ahead to pursue legal action against the Government for dismissing her.
Priscilla Banner, the Crown Counsel representing the Solicitor General, had argued this morning that Mrs. Good was a temporary worker, an “open vote worker.”
Mrs. Good is being represented by attorney Arthur Saldivar, who is bringing the action against the Minister and Ministry of Education, the Education Department Truancy Unit and the Attorney General.
Today’s ruling gives Mrs. Good’s attorney fourteen days to file a substantive claim.
On August 3, Mrs. Good said that she got a call from her supervisor, who told her that she had a dismissal letter for her and asked her to come to the office to pick it up.
“When I went to pick up the letter and after I read it, I asked to see the manager, Mr. Dale Anthony. I asked Anthony to give me one good reason why I was getting dismissed,” said Mrs. Good.
According to Mrs. Good, Anthony told her that he did not have a reason, that it was “politics”, because she was employed under the last administration (PUP), so she had to go.
Education Minister Patrick Faber, after Mrs. Good and her late husband had begun a peaceful protest for her to be reinstated back on her job, had commented on an evening television news broadcast that the school warden positions were linked with politics.
Mrs. Good worked at Trinity Methodist School, where she reportedly had performed her duties with distinction and had caught the attention of the Ministry of Education, which gave her a commendation; yet, ultimately, she was dismissed from her job—just before school was about to be opened for her children, who are attending high school.