And one of the initiatives that the LIU was put out in front of was the campaign to support the 13the Amendment - which would make it easier for the state to declare States of Emergency.
That was a tough sell in the streets - and now even after all that credibility lost - Cabinet has pulled back on the amendment. Musa is still one of its advocates:
Kareem Musa, Minister of Immigration
"So and I've maintained this all along from when we introduced the 13th amendment. And you know any type of change will receive pushback but, when you look at the 13th amendment, it was really just elevating a law that already exists in the Criminal Justice Reform Act, Crime Control and Criminal Justice Reform Act and elevating it to the status of the Constitution. So as the bar from being attacked per se as being an unconstitutional law. So the law is still there and it can still apply There's also still a lot of the state of emergency that can still apply. We have two conflicting judgments that are going to make their way to the courts, to the CCJ eventually, I'm sure, and then we'll have a clear determination then in terms of the applicability of states of emergencies in Belize. But, for the time being, those things are still in law and perhaps the highlight of the 13th amendment that I find regrettable that we're not proceeding with is a specified gun and gang court. That's something I would really want to encourage the government and cabinet to reconsider, because there are so many, gun charges that are languishing in our magistrates court, over 160 of them. And as you know, justice delayed is justice denied. And so we have a lot of individuals who have been charged under the Firearms Act. But those cases have not yielded any results. So having a dedicated court for gangs and gun control, I think is very important. So hopefully that's something we can reconsider."
EXTRO (UPDATE)
And that's it for 7news tonight - as we leave we bid a heartfelt farewell and best wishes to long time Channel 7 cameraman and editor Codie Norales,
He's been here since 2008 - and much of what you have seen on channel 7 in the past two decades bears his imprint and energy. Codie, good luck and godspeed in your next chapter!...
