As you heard, Prime Minister Briceno has maintained his position on the crown counsels of the Attorney General's Ministry. His answer has been polished up since he first dismissed them off-handedly a week ago. But essentially, the PM says that the Government would be setting up the crown counsels of the AG's Ministry to take on senior attorneys in steep, uphill legal battles.
Today, the President of the Public Service Union spoke up loudly in support of these public servants who defend the interest of taxpayers in the courtroom. He said that successive PUDP Governments are at fault for always finding some reason or the other to bench them on all significant court cases. Here's how he made that point in a zoom press briefing this morning:
Dean Flowers - President, Public Service Union
"I want to touch on also some very unfortunate comments coming out of the mouths of the minister of Public Service, The Minister of National Security, and the prime minister, with reference to the comments as it relates to public offices within the AG's Ministry. It's really unfortunate when we send our Belizeans out to study, to qualify themselves. They come back. They are hired as crown counsels. And then, you have the highest office within the public service — or the highest offices, because it's the Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Service, as well as the Honorable Musa saying that, ‘Well, they're not competent, competent enough.' These are young people who come back with a lot of zeal, who simply want an opportunity to shine. And, instead of giving them that opportunity to grow, to shine, and to experience what it is like to be arguing in court, we keep them at that junior level, locked up in a room, so that we can then use that as an excuse — their non-experience as an excuse to spend the Belizean money on our political law firms. The comments of the Prime Minister, claiming that the legal councils are no good is outright disrespectful, and again, unbecoming of the Prime Minister. To see this supported by the Honorable Musa yesterday, calling them junior attorneys, and discrediting the fact that some of them have in fact been doing research work within the EU initiative for some time is also very unfortunate. If these officers are allowed to practice the way they should in providing defense for the government, then, of course, they will gain experience and grow within the public service. The rate of turnover in the AG Ministry is very high, and the reason why is because successive ministry administrations continue to keep them away from the courtroom, to justify the hiring of their political law firms."
We'll have more from the PSU President in our next segment. You'll hear why he and the union object to the Government's plan to employ Florencio Marin Sr. at the Ministry of Agriculture.
