In May the Bar Association of Belize put out a position paper on the Belize Constitution Sixth Amendment Bill, the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill and the Referendum Amendment Bill. Clocking in at a sturdy 23 pages, it’s not exactly light reading. But the Bar says, if you’re a Belizean concerned about your rights you should read it. Now, as the public consultation series on the constitutional amendment package rolls into town on Wednesday, the Bar Association is stepping up its awareness campaign.
But wait, public awareness by the bar???? Sounds more like wishful thinking than practical planning, because the last time we heard the bar speak out on a subject of public interest was about 9 years ago. But they have this time – and President Jacqueline Marshalleck says they were asked by the public to come forward. We challenged that position.
Jacqueline Marshalleck, President Bar Association
“People were saying how does the Bar feel about this, what is the Bar’s position on this. The public was calling for us to find out where do we stand on this, so we decided to do a review the way we would normally do a review and put it in a format which could be submitted both to government and easily reviewed by the public.”
Jules Vasquez,
The criticism has been that the Bar is only speaking up and speaking out because it is being instrumentalized, manipulated, used by the Opposition as a means of attack against the government. How do you respond to that criticism?
Jacqueline Marshalleck,
“I would say that criticism is not founded, it is so without basis because in reading the paper you will see that it is not an attack on government, it is a very balanced paper and we support many amendments that are being proposed. But I think it is unthinkable that you could think to amend the constitution of this country which will affect every single citizen and not have citizens understand what’s happening.
The Constitution of Belize is now being subject to amendment. Do people think that something that important should happen without the Bar Association doing what it can to help people to understand what the process is all about and what the government is trying to achieve?”
Jules Vasquez,
Where was the Bar Association when all these confidential secret agreements were being signed, agreements which the government does not even have? Why didn’t the Bar Association speak out then, saying this so clearing undermines the public interest?
Jacqueline Marshalleck,
“Yes I have heard it…difficult. With respect to the secret agreements, they were definitely secret – it is not like we got copies of them either. But also very difficult for the Association to deal with because much of what was transpiring or the issues involving those contracts were also in the courts and the subjects of legal disputes. You have the issues going to court in terms of the validity of the secret agreements and on both sides litigants have attorneys representing them and if you’re a litigant in that case and you’re a member of the association, you wouldn’t care to have your association stepping up and interfering and saying, ‘excuse me, you shouldn’t be there, that contract is problematic.’ It’s complicated, complicated.”
