Payal Ghanwani is a Belizean attorney who served as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from 10 March 2020 to 11 December 2020. She is the first Indo-Belizean Senator.

Education

Ghanwani grew up in Corozal District, Belize. She graduated from the

University of the West Indies at Cave Hill University of the West Indies at Cave Hill is a public research university in Cave Hill, Barbados. It is one of five general campuses in the University of the West Indies system. It was the third campus to be established by the UWI System, follow ...

with an

LL.B Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 2014. She then earned her Legal Education Certificate at the Norman Manley Law School, where she was recognised as the Most Outstanding Student Over Two Years (2014–2016). She was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in Belize in 2016.

Career

Ghanwani is a partner at the firm Estevan Perera & Company LLP. She had previously worked as an attorney-at-law for Glenn D. Godfrey & Co. LLP and as an intern at M. H. Chebat & Co. She is also the membership director for the

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

of Belize Sunrise, which is based in Belize City. Ghanwani has worked in several areas, including civil litigation and estate issues. Notably, she served as the main attorney for United Democratic Party (UDP) politician Mark King in his 2018

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

suit against activist Moses Sulph. Sulph had made a post on Facebook alleging that employees in King's business were not paid overtime pay and mandated benefits; he made a second post repeating the allegations after King asked him to retract. In court, Sulph's witnesses could not corroborate the posts, and he had no other evidence. In January 2019, the judge ruled that Sulph based his posts on hearsay, and awarded King BZ$40,000 in damages. This case set a precedent for online defamation cases in Belize. In 2020, the incumbent UDP appointed Ghanwani as one of their six Senators upon the resignation of UDP Senator Steven Duncan. While Ghanwani was not known within the party, she was viewed favorably as a "new face". She also became the first Indo-Belizean to serve in the Senate. Ghanwani was sworn in on 10 March 2020. After the

2020 general election The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2020. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems maintains a comprehensive list of upcoming elections on its E-Guide Platform. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calend ...

, the UDP became the opposition party. As their Senate allotment was now only three seats, Ghanwani was not reappointed for the new legislative session that began on 11 December 2020.

References

External links

Interview with Kenrick Mark Coleman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghanwani, Payal Living people Belizean lawyers Members of the Senate (Belize) Politicians of Indian descent United Democratic Party (Belize) politicians People associated with the Norman Manley Law School People from Corozal District Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Belizean women politicians 21st-century Belizean politicians