And while we had him today, we also asked the Prime Minister about he move to up-end the monopoly that the Bar Association has on legal practitioners.
He's a senior consel and a long stand member of the Bar, but while conceding that he has not yet reviewed the legislation, he agrees that the mandatory membership law has to go:
Prime Minister Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"I think that is as it should be. We've seen that in so many other professional organizations, it's been held unconstitutionally. There can be no exclusivity. So, I don't see any problem with that at all. The Bar can continue. If some lawyers don't want to belong to the bar and start a law society, or start another bar, I can't see that there is a difficulty. I support that."
Jules Vasquez
"Would you remain a member of the bar?"
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"It would depend. If there - when I go back into practice - God willing - if there is a sensible move to start another association, and that move would come with plans that might suggest that there could be measureable improvement over the performance of the Bar Association, I would look at it. I would keep an opened mind."
Jules Vasquez
"The Attorney General has alleged that in fact, the Bar Association is like a club, and it's controlled by a few families. I believe those who have your family name are among that club, seeing that the current president, Eamon Courtenay, was nominated by your brother. So, I would assume that your family is a part of the club which controls it."
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"Well, I believe what the Attorney General might also have wanted to say is that club is a club dominated by persons of a certain political stripe, even though it's not entirely monolithic, but no, that doesn't matter. The fact is that as a correct legal principle, there should not be that kind of exclusivity."
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