from one of the online news sources...
Chalillo bill: "Wrong and utterly perverse"
While most of the fireworks
exploding in
Belmopan today were aimed at the
Social
Security Bill, it was another
piece of
legislation--debated late in the
afternoon--that
may have more important long-term
ramifications. The Macal River
Hydroelectric
Development Bill attempts to
speed up the
construction of the Chalillo Dam. Ground was
officially broken on the
controversial project late last month, but those
opposed to it are attempting
to stop it in the courts. They have thus far been
unsuccessful, but are in the
process of appealing the adverse ruling to the Privy
Council. What the bill
seeks to do, however, is something that any student of
constitutional law
can tell you is impossible: it attempts to place
Chalillo beyond the reach of
the constitution. Section 4 (d) reads: "For the
avoidance of doubt and for
greater certainty, BECOL shall proceed with the
design, financing,
construction and operation for the Chalillo Project in
accordance with
paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of this section
notwithstanding any
judgement, order or declaration of any court or
tribunal, whether
heretofore or hereafter granted, issued or made."
Clearly, a law which places any person or activity
beyond the reach of the
system of justice is incompatible with the notion of
constitutional rule. The
government must know this, and we can only assume that
the bill, which
went through all three readings in one day, was
enacted in order to ease the
concerns of BECOL's potential financiers. That noble
cause
notwithstanding, Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow
described the bill
as "wrong and utterly perverse". Actually, this may be
one time when
Barrow's hyperbole came up short. The fact is that,
whether you like
Chalillo or not, this bill may be the worst piece of
legislation ever passed by
the House of Representatives.