Low Turnout for 13th Amendment Consultation Doesn’t Deter Minister

A third round of consultations on the 13^th Constitutional Amendment took place today in the capital city.  It was a poorly attended event, but not a discouragement to the Minister of Public Service, Henry Usher.  According to the minister, there are other avenues for Belizeans to express their views or concerns on the amendment.  During today’s consultation one question that stood out had to do with reasonable suspicion that is embedded in the amendment.  Minister Usher explained the term, and echoed the Attorney General’s sentiment that there is nothing to fear in the constitutional amendment.

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service and Governance: “That question was raised in terms of what does reasonable suspicion mean. I think the representative from the Attorney General’s ministry, Crown Counsel Shepard,  explained that reasonable suspicion is a legal term. It  is something that has been fleshed out in a number of cases. So you can look at case law. You can also look at different legislations around the world that really speak on the matter of reasonable suspicion. So I think it’s something that, like one of the last suggestions from an attorney was that we put in the bill itself the criteria that defines reasonable suspicion. It’s something that certainly we can look at but there is a body of law out there that speaks on this particular matter. Well, I think that there have been very good suggestions in terms of maybe supporting parts of the  bill but also amending other parts of the bill. We heard from persons who are  coming from a human rights perspective.  We heard from persons speaking from their legal training being attorneys at law or having training in other fields. I think  what is important is that we put all of these recommendations and suggestions together and we take it back to the House Committee and of course when the bill is brought up for second reading, a report will be submitted to the House of Representatives before that second reading and that debate is done.”

Love News remains on standby to see if there will be further public consultations on the 13^th Constitutional Amendment.  We will keep you posted.