BELIZE CITY, Tues. Aug. 6, 2024
Belizeans who grew to respect and appreciate the mettle of the man while he was with us, received with heavy hearts the news that the 28th Chief Justice of Belize, Dr. Abdulai Conteh had passed away in his home country of Sierra Leone (SL) last Friday morning, August 2, after a brief illness.
Throughout Dr. Conteh’s life, he served as a politician and lawyer in his home country, and was a former Vice President of Sierra Leone, serving under President Joseph Saidu Momoh in the early 1990s. That was before he took up the appointment in 2000 as Chief Justice of Belize “at a time of great distress in the Belizean judicial and legal community”, according to Amandala’s October 2010 article by Adele Ramos titled, “The end of an era …,” on his retirement as Chief Justice of Belize after serving for ten years and eight months. From all accounts, Belize was truly blessed to have had this great man whose legacy remains a standard to be aspired to by all who have succeeded him.
Born on August 5, 1945, Dr. Conteh spent the majority of his years in Freetown, Sierra Leone, but journeyed to the United Kingdom to further his studies, and earned himself an impressive collection of educational qualifications: Ph.D., (International Law), 1974, King’s College, Cambridge; LLB (Hons): 1971, King’s College, Cambridge; LLM: 1971, London University, United Kingdom; LLB (Hons): 1969, King’s College London; Barrister at Law: Called to the Bar of England and Wales, 1970, at Lincoln’s Inn, London, United Kingdom; Harold Porter Prize in Land Law, 1968.
After his studies, Dr. Conteh returned home and was employed at the SL Law Officers Department before later going into his private practice and teaching law at Fourah Bay College. He then ventured into politics, serving in various ministries from 1977 to 1992.
In 2000, Dr. Conteh came to Belize, becoming the 28th Chief Justice of the Belize Supreme Court, and served until he retired at 65 in 2010.
The 2010 Amandala article entitled, “The end of an era: Chief Justice Dr. Abdulai Conteh Retires,” highlighted that during his final bench sitting, he was honored by colleagues for “his fearlessness in defending the rights of the individual and less well-heeled, his insistence on a rigorous schedule and system for the delivery and practice of the law, and his many other deeds in service of Belizean law.”
You can Google the article on the internet to see all the glowing tributes Dr. Conteh received from members of the legal fraternity on his retirement, but we will borrow only a few paragraphs here:
“In closing, the Chief Justice reminded those present of his hope that Belizeans aspire to maintain the administration of justice, and referenced his statement at the inauguration of the Battlefield Park bandstand and bust of labour leader Antonio Soberanis, that he and Soberanis had engaged in an annual staring match at the start of the judicial year, and the promise that Belize would continue to dispense justice adequately.
“In a short question-and-answer session with the press following the Special Sitting, the Chief Justice, in response to a question from Amandala, stated that he graded his dispensation of justice on how satisfied he was that the decision helped to increase the people’s happiness and elemental freedom.”
He served under two Prime Ministers – Said Musa and Dean Barrow – and after his retirement in Belize, Dr. Conteh was appointed to the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas, where he served until November 2015.
He was 3 days shy of his 79th birthday.
One last time, Belize says farewell to Dr. Abdulai Conteh.