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Support the courts, says Senator Pitts to GOB

HighlightsSupport the courts, says Senator Pitts to GOB

BELIZE CITY, Fri. Jan. 22, 2021– The United Democratic Party has publicly aired their disapproval of what they consider to be the mistreatment of the judiciary by the new government, which has introduced laws that will place limits on the amount of time afforded to judges for the delivery of judgment — laws that they believe could undermine their work. During the UDP’s press conference on January 22, Opposition Senator Sheena Pitts pointed out that the address from the Attorney General, Magali Marin-Young, failed to touch on any of the pressing issues presented by the Acting Chief Justice during her remarks in a ceremony to open the new legal year for the courts.

On January 18, 2020, when the new legal year in Belize was officially launched, the Acting Chief Justice, Her Honour Michelle Arana, highlighted some glaring shortfalls in the resources and administrative support that have been allotted to the judiciary and noted that this has impacted the delivery of justice for thousands of confined individuals.

Her remarks also touched on the constitutional amendments tabled by the Government of Belize which impose time limits on judges for the delivery of written judgments. She even expressed the hope that the amendments were not put forward to erode the principle of separation of powers between the executive and judiciary.

In her remarks, Senator Sheena Pitts said, “It is most unfortunate however, that the honorable Attorney General’s remarks in response were laced with rhetoric, purposed for political mileage and expediency, which undressed and perhaps demoralized an already demoralized judiciary. It was invariably tone-deaf to the responsibility of this government to fix the problem but seemingly a trumpet-loud aggrandization of the PUP’s manifesto.”

She also shared that the Bar Association sided with the Government of Belize when it described the underperformance inside the judiciary in great detail without making an equally loud call to the Government to ensure that the needed resources are afforded the courts.

“They [the Bar Association] expressed that we should be looking forward to quality recruitment of judicial officers, and surprisingly the Bar Association publicly made statements couched together as to suggest that the Court of Appeal is in effect denying justice to litigants, which is offensive to the court, judges, and the judiciary on a whole.” Senator Pitts said in her remarks.

She further noted that the UDP believes the rule of law must remain unchanged and will be defended by the United Democratic Party. “The United Democratic Party decries this political commentary, unbefitting of the solemn occasion of the opening of the judicial year. The United Democratic Party further denounces the apparent emphasis in impending legislation, punitive at its core, which leaves in its wake the inference of an ongoing executive open to interfere with the independent judiciary. It must and cannot overemphasize by this United Democratic Party that the rule of law is immutable.” Senator Pitts remarked.

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