In February Sir Barry Bowen and the Belize Landowners Association won a significant
legal victory when Chief Justice Dr. Abdulai Conteh found that the Barrow Administration’s
proposed amendments to the constitution regarding petroleum and mineral rights
would in fact be unconstitutional if they were made into law. As promised, the
Attorney General has appealed the CJ’s ruling to the Court of Appeal,
arguing that the judge erred in law on eight different points. The Attorney
General’s representative in the case, Senior Counsel Lois Young began
making her submissions before Justices Mottley, Carey and Morrison this morning.
Young spent much of the day in a back and forth with the justices on the pivotal
point of whether the constitution of Belize or the country’s parliament
reigns supreme. Young contended that the parliament is empowered to alter the
constitution once it conforms with the requisite requirements, including approvals
from house of representatives and senate. However, on more than one occasion,
the panel of judges referred the senior counsel to section 68 of the constitution,
which states that all laws made by the legislature are in fact subject to the
constitution.
At one point, Young made the concession but she went on to insist that contrary
to the CJ’s findings, the National Assembly can alter the constitution,
including fundamental rights guaranteed in part ii, by complying with the provisions
of section 69 of the constitution. Attorneys Eamon Courtenay and Magali Marin
Young are representing Barry Bowen in the case while Dickie Bradley and Anthony
Sylvestre are appearing for the Landowners Association and others.
They maintain if it is passed into law, clause two of the Sixth Amendment Bill,
which vests all mineral and petroleum rights in the government of Belize and
removes the right of access to the legal system, would be a violation of fundamental
rights, especially those relating to the ownership and protection of property
from arbitrary deprivation. The case is scheduled to continue tomorrow morning.
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