Among the new legislation being considered by the new Attorney General and the new Government is the Time Limit for Judicial Decisions Bill, 2020.
The law would set a time limit for the delivery of judgments which judges must abide by. It is supposed to hold these judicial officers accountable, so that the protracted delays, such as those experienced in the courtroom of former Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin, will become a thing of the past.
For a civil matter, the bill contemplates that the judge must give a written decision and reasons for that decision no later than 120 days after a full hearing is concluded. That is the same deadline for an appeal case heard in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.
The bill also says, quote, "...A Judge may be removed from office for...persistently failing to give written decisions and reasons for decisions within the time specified..." End Quote.
The bill is in its draft phase, and today, there were some sharp words over it at the Ceremonial Opening of the Court. Here are those parts of the 2-hour event:
Iliana Swift - President, Bar Association of Belize
"The issue of delay in the judicial system particularly with respect to delivery of judgements has always been a great concern to the bar association. Consequently, we welcome the recent steps taken to implement a time limit for judicial decisions legislation. This was clearly a measure prompted by a history of judges delaying severely in the delivery of judgements and even demitting office with judgements pending as in the case of the former Chief Justice Benjamin."
Hon. Michelle Arana - Acting Chief Justice
"We are aware of the recent bills to impose legislative and constitutional limits on the delivery of judgments, read in the House of Representatives last Friday, January 9th, 2021. The Judiciary fully accepts the need to be held accountable in the performance of our duties to the citizenry, whom we have the honor of serving. To this end, the judiciary has, as recently as November 2020, provided the Legislature and the Executive with an extensive list of some of the major concerns and required resources of the judiciary, which contribute extensively to judicial delays, and which directly impact and impair our level of efficiency and productivity. To date, we have not been provided with any of the requested assistance, and we have been advised that the Government of Belize simply has no money at this time."
Hon. Magali Marin-Young, SC - Attorney General
"Belize intends to join other countries in the region, in particular Barbados and Guyana, which have found it necessary to enact legislation to impose time limits on the handing down of judgments. Since, despite pronouncements from our highest court the Caribbean Court of Justice, judges continue to repeated be late in handing down decisions. The former Chief Justice left 18 outstanding decisions, some that have been outstanding for up to 8 years and counting. The current court of appeal also is plague with the delay in delivery of judgements to which I have been informed there are 14 outstanding judgements. So far since these delays have not been adequately address, parliament intends to do so following scrupulously the judicial pronouncements on delay from the Caribbean Court of Justice."
Hon. Michelle Arana - Acting Chief Justice
"We do hope, pray and trust that these pieces of legislation, which directly impact and potentially undermine the security of tenure currently enjoyed by the judiciary do not constitute shared political posturing at the expense of the judiciary, or worse a deliberate attempt by the legislature and the executive to erode the sacred principle of independence of the judiciary, by demanding the improvement of efficiency in the delivery of judgments, and making judges subject to removal from office for failure to meet these time limits, without the legislature and the executive fulfilling their own duties by providing the essential human resources and infrastructure necessary to enable and empower judges to meet those time limits."
"The paucity of manpower and the girth of resources to address the high volume of cases is such that the small number of judges that we do have sit in court almost every day presiding over matters of varying degrees of complexity, leaving precious little time to deliver written judgments in a timely manner."
"We are and have been woefully under-resourced and under-funded for many years, and as a result, we suffer from chronic problems, which fundamentally and directly impact the level of our productivity and efficiency on a daily basis. These include, but are not limited to, an insufficient number of judicial personnel and support staff, the inadequate, decrepit, and unsafe physical infrastructure of chambers and courts, and a lack of essential informational technology hardware and software, to name a few. It is therefore with great interest and anticipation that the Judiciary of Belize awaits the increase in our budget, promised by this new administration."
Hon. Magali Marin-Young, SC - Attorney General
"Despite the financial distress in which the government has found the treasury, we promise to double the monies allocated to the judiciary. This may not fully happen this year because of the huge increase of spending that this government has to make to procure the Covid19 vaccines and to resources a much neglected public healthcare system and to expend on infrastructure that has been damage as a result of the unprecedented floods we have experience late last year. But we fully intend to do so once we have overcome the dire financial straits. The government intends to upgrade and build new court facilities for all 3 tiers of the judiciary. The air is to build a Belize hall of justice that will facilitate the 3 tiers of court, the registry, the law library, administrative facilities and so on."
In its manifesto, the PUP promised to Increase the budget for the Judiciary to a minimum of 2% of the Government's Budget which would be a paid automatically into a new Judiciary Fund under the control of the Chief Justice.
