Panton Reverses Stance on Compensation for Alleged Gang Members

Leader of the Opposition Tracy Panton has essentially back peddled on her initial position for the government to pay out over three hundred thousand dollars to 13 alleged gang members. Last week, in a now-deleted post on Facebook, Panton urged the Briceno Administration to pay out the 318 thousand dollars to the men who were detained under the State of Emergency in 2020. Last month, High Court Justice Nadine Nabie ruled that the detentions were unlawful and awarded the claimants compensation in the range of thousands of dollars. The ruling followed a decision by Justice Rajiv Goonetilleke on April 30, which found that the SOE was justified and valid in law. However, Panton had issued a public statement, saying quote, “We call on the Government to immediately settle the damages awarded by the Court and to ensure that the constitutional rights of all Belizeans are fully protected.” However, today, when she was asked about the rulings she had a different perspective.

Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition: “I haven’t made any assessment of those judgments. In the law, it can go either way, as we know. And how those cases were presented also weighs in on how a judgment is made. The Prime Minister did indicate yesterday that the judgment will be appealed. They’re trying to be proactive by passing this legislation. Just this Constitutional amendment, which I understand will be retroactive, which is also a concern but our parliamentary caucus, our UDP Parliamentary Caucus have made a commitment to sit down as a team and to look at it critically and objectively in an effort to hopefully lend something that can be considered, considered a balance to where the government wishes to go with this Constitutional amendment.”

The government has noted that it will be appealing Justice Nabie’s ruling.