BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC -Police Commissioner Chester Williams says the police don’t have any authorized authority to find out who’s to occupy the headquarters of the principle opposition United Democratic Celebration (UDP) and is urging the factions concerned to settle the matter in a court docket of regulation.
UDP chief Moses “Shyne” Barrow and Tracy Taegar-Panton, who heads a dissenting group throughout the occasion, declare they’re the occasion’s reliable leaders. Earlier this yr, Barrow wrote to the Speaker of the Parliament indicating that Taegar-Panton and at the very least two different legislators have been not members of the occasion.
Media studies point out that Barrow has filed a prison grievance in opposition to Taegar-Panton, who led a bunch of supporters in a hostile takeover of the headquarters on Monday.
The transfer comes eight days after Panton led a conference on the Belize Metropolis Centre, the place UDF delegates voted her as the brand new occasion chief.
However Barrow has insisted that the conference was illegitimate and never formally linked to the UDP.
Williams instructed reporters that the police should not have authorized authority to behave within the absence of a court docket ruling.
“Now, we’re in a difficult state of affairs as a result of one fraction now occupies the decrease flat of the constructing. I’ve once more stated to the police that we’re not going to ask them or we’re not going to drive them out of the constructing.
“Sure, the police can ask them to go away, however we received’t drive them out in the event that they don’t. We don’t wish to have any type of confrontation with anyone unnecessarily.”
Williams stated he suggested Barrow to go earlier than the court docket and search the court docket’s intervention to right the matter.
“The reality be instructed, either side can argue that they’re UDPs. So, how are you going to displace one in favor of the opposite? That’s a problem that they must take care of. So, we’ll simply maintain forth and be as impartial as attainable. One may not like Shyne, however the fact is he’s the constitutionally elected chief of the opposition.”
Panton has stated she and her supporters have full authorized grounds to occupy the constructing, citing trustee Phillipa Bailey’s approval.
However Williams stated the matter may not be so simple.
“I take a look at the state of affairs from a authorized standpoint. You probably have a landlord who needs to displace his tenant, the owner can’t simply carry a brand new tenant to the constructing and say to the present tenant, “You want to go away. “There’s a authorized course of that you have to comply with.
Williams stated the authorized course of can’t be circumvented by another course of, including, “It’s unhappy to see that we’ve got cases the place people who find themselves skilled attorneys ought to know higher.
“Whether it is that Philippa Bailey was the trustee of the property and he or she was holding on belief for the UDP, The query then lies as to who’s a UDP? Shyne is a UDP. Panton is a UDP. And so there’s a dispute there.
“To resolve that dispute, the police should not be the arbitrator. That situation should be resolved in a court docket of regulation. And so if the Panton fraction believes They’ve all rights to the constructing. Then the correct factor for them to have carried out is to take the matter earlier than the court docket,” Williams added.
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