The forced departure of the Chief Justice of Belize Dr. Abdulai Conteh has set off a modest tempest on the Belize judicial and populist landscape. A usually fragmented-on-political-lines Bar Association was sufficiently concerned to come together and condemn the manner in which the Chief Justice was being sent off. So much so that it issued an uncharacteristic admonition against the government of United Democratic Party leader prime minister Barrow.

One of the more colorful commentaries on the issue has come from former attorney general Godfrey Smith who participated in the selection process of the Dr, Conteh when Smith was in office:

Judicial balls.  That is his most important attribute.  Chief Justice Conteh fearlessly slaps down abusive government decisions, sometimes with Solomonic sensitivity to the damaged political egos.

They’re more important on a judge than erudition because errors can be corrected on appeal. But if a Chief Justice is afraid to rebuff governmental abuse, the Executive will emasculate the entire Judiciary.

It was upon the political “UDP headquarters case” that Dr. Conteh cut his judicial teeth. The freshly elected PUP Government alleged that the defeated UDP Government illegally gave to its party, gratis, land upon which it built its headquarters.

Though it was his first political case – a big one at that – he ruled against the government, ordering the UDP to pay the stamp duty on the land and incensing the PUP.

Though he was later reversed on appeal, he had established straightaway his credentials as a judge not afraid of the Executive.

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