Barrow Slams Budna Abduction, Demands Independent Inquiry

Tonight, former Prime Minister and attorney Dean Barrow is weighing in on the Joseph Budna saga, and he’s laying it all out. Barrow calls what happened to Budna a blatant violation of the rule of law, saying it’s intolerable in any democracy. He’s also questioning how the police can investigate themselves, especially when the Commissioner of Police, Dr. Richard Rosado, is at the center of the storm. Here’s what Barrow had to say…

 

On the Phone: Dean Barrow, Attorney-at-law

“What was done to Mr. Budna is a signal violation of the rule of law. The authorities are completely out of order and this is something I am grateful, happy to see that the Belizean public is condemning out of hand, as well they should. This is absolutely intolerable, it cannot be countenanced in a democracy. It cannot be allowed in a country where the rule of law is the cornerstone of our democracy, the cornerstone of the fundamental rights to vindication and the observance of the fundamental rights of citizens. The notion that the Commissioner of Police is on leave, I imagine that’s paid leave, although I don’t know whether it’s a fact, but the commissioner is on leave and as I understand it a [Deputy] Commissioner of Police has been charged with carrying out an investigation into the matter. There are so many things wrong with that that one doesn’t know where to start. How will the police, in this instance, investigate the police and how will a junior officer investigate the Commissioner of Police and that is what is involved. That’s number one. Number two: I don’t see how the government can imagine that it is okay to proceed with an investigation regarding the actions of the Commissioner of Polices, suggesting well that’s where the buck stops. In my view, there’s a need for a far broader inquiry, a far broader exercise because five will get you ten. No Commissioner of Police will do what it is alleged that this Commissioner of Police has done without either instructions from the political directorate or without at least permission from the political directorate.”