| Kenneth Benjamin | |
| Birth Date: | 1955 3, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Georgetown, British Guiana |
| Birth Name: | Kenneth Andrew Charles Benjamin |
| Alma Mater: | University of the West Indies (LLB), Hugh Wooding Law School |
| Honorific Prefix: | The Honourable |
| Office: | 10th Chief Justice of Belize |
| Termstart: | 15 September 2011 |
| Termend: | 20 March 2020 |
| Appointer: | Colville Young |
| Nominator: | Dean Barrow |
| Predecessor: | Samuel Awich (acting) |
| Honorific Suffix: | Chief Justice of Belize (Retd.) |
| Successor: | Michelle Arana (acting) |
Kenneth Andrew Charles Benjamin (born 19 March 1955) is a Caribbean jurist. A dual national of Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, he served as Chief Justice of Belize from 15 September 2011[1] [2] to 20 March 2020.[3]
Benjamin was born on 19 March 1955 in Georgetown, Guyana.[4] In 1980 and 1981, Benjamin served as a magistrate in Georgetown, Guyana. He went on to serve as Assistant Judge Advocate for the Guyana Defence Force.[2] From 1988, he continued his work as a judge in Antigua, including from 1991 to 1993 as Chief Magistrate of Antigua.[2] [5] Following that, he was named as a judge of the High Court of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.[5] In this capacity he served in Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands in the succeeding years.[2] From 2002 to 2007, Benjamin's position as ECSC High Court Judge took him to Grenada; he was succeeded there by Francis Cumberbatch.[5] In 2007, he relocated to St. Lucia to become the presiding judge of the High Court of St. Lucia's criminal division.[2]
In July 2011, following the retirement of Abdulai Conteh, Attorney-General B. Q. Pitts announced that Benjamin would be Belize's new Chief Justice.[2] In the interim, Samuel Lungole Awich served as acting CJ.[6] Pitts indicated his hopes that Benjamin, at the time 56, would be able to hold his position until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 65.[2] [7]
Benjamin graduated from the Hugh Wooding Law School of the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago in 1977. He is married and has a daughter and a son.[2]