BELIZE CITY, Fri. Dec. 11, 2020– On Monday, December 7, Supreme Court justice Westmin James ruled in favour of former chairman of the Police Association, Corporal Eldon Arzu, in regards to one issue in claim 106 of 2019 against the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams.
The ruling addressed the question of whether a Statutory Instrument (SI) signed by the Commissioner Williams on January 9, 2019, could have retroactive effect. The SI limited the tenure of any person serving as president to two terms.
Commissioner Williams was recently asked for his comments on the Supreme Court justice’s ruling, and said, “When Mr Arzu had applied to the court for an injunction to prevent the new association from taking office, the court said to him, ‘we are not going to entertain you,’ and threw that out.
“You all didn’t make an issue of that; that’s a major victory, but that went under the table. Now because the court said that legislation, we all know is lawful, you all making a big issue out that? What is the celebration? What’s the hooray? Let’s wait for the court to determine the full matter. The trail is set for next year February, and we see how the matter goes. I still believe whatever decision we took, was the right one, and the court will determine that.”
Arzu filed the action in March 2019 and had previously served as chairman of the association since 2012 and as president after winning consecutive elections. He had just been re-elected in January of 2019, but citing the SI, the Commissioner classified the election outcome as invalid.
The hearing of the case continues on February 24 and 25 of 2021, when witnesses will be cross-examined.