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Hon. Barrow Says Awich Judgment Is Wrong
posted (August 29, 2014)
On Monday, we told you about the decision from Justice Courtney Abel that the Judicial and Legal Services Commission ought not to have dismissed the complaints against Samuel Awich's appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal.

As we told you, the Ashcroft Alliance challenged the decision from Services Commission in which the body dismissed the complaint against Justice Awich for his alleged "misbehaviour" as a Supreme Court Judge, which included not delivering judgements in a timely manner.

The Services Commission found the complaint to be "misconceived" and without enough merit to justify passing it along to the Belize Advisory Council.

After hearing the case brought by the Alliance, Justice Abel found that the Service Commission acted unlawfully when it dismissed the complaint against Justice Awich, without sufficient consideration. Today, Prime Minister Barrow - who recently elevated Awich on a tenured basis - said he believes the judgment is wrong:

Daniel Ortiz
"What's your reaction to that judgment?"

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"I think it's quite wrong. My understanding is the Ashcroft alliance was urging this allege misbehavior on the part of Justice Awich as a basis for seeking his removal as a Judge of the Court of Appeal, but the allege misbehavior was according to them something that occurred while he was a judge of the Supreme Court. I don't see how on earth you can say when you were a judge of the Supreme Court you misbehave and that is a ground for removing you as judge of the Court of Appeal. You would have to urge that as a judge of the Court of Appeal there is misbehavior otherwise its illogical, it's absurd. I haven't read Justice Abel judgment, but I certainly know that my understanding of the facts obliges me to say that that is a wrongheaded decision."

"All this is spinning wheels. As I said I don't know what sort of psychological effect it has on the good Justice, but I know that practically these people will get nowhere. Mr. Justice Awich has now been reappointed. This time they complain about short term appointments, well he is appointed for 7 years, so they can take that, put it in their pipe and smoke it - careful what you ask for. They don't want short term appointments - he has a 7 year appointment that as far as I can tell was done in a fashion that is absolutely in consonance with the requirements of the law. I think he is there God willing health and strength allow him to stay for the length of that 7 year period."

As we've told you, it is unclear as to the effect of Justice Abel's ruling because he did not hand down any administrative orders to compel Services Commission to rehear the complaint.

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