Today the Prime Minister also fielded questions of Justice of Appeal Awich. The Bar Association came out strong with a resolution saying that the timing of Awich's re-appointment raises the issue of an appearance of bias. They are referring to the fact that Awich's lead decision in the case of the BTL;'s 2nd acquisition was presented on the same day his contract expired. Barrow told the press he had no choices with the timing:
Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"It is well-known that there has been a historical problem between certain members of the Bar - I am not sure who all attended the meeting - certain elements of the leadership of the Bar, and Mr. Justice Awich. One of the complaints or one of the things flagged by the Bar Association's resolution was the fact that we were proposing to renew the appointment after the last court judgement, in which the leading decision was given by Mr. Justice Awich, and the Government won. Well, suppose we had given the extension of the contract before the decision came down, you'd have heard that we did it as an inducement. We said we would wait. Let the judgement be over and done with, and then we can proceed. They turn around they still complained about that."
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