New policy announced for citizenship

It has been nearly a full year since revelations of massive scandal in the Immigration Department were made by the Belizean media. With the exception of retiring the department head and transferring the Minister to a new portfolio, government has done virtually nothing to punish the numerous wrongdoers both in and out of the civil service. Despite repeated assurances by politicians of imminent criminal indictments, the Director of Public Prosecutions appears to be paralysed and justice in the case of white-collar crime remains elusive.

But however reluctant Belmopan is to confront its dirty past, there seems to be no problem with the future. In a move that may actually prevent coming scandals, the Ministry of Home Affairs has announced a policy in which the name of every new naturalised Belizean citizen will be published–not just in the official Gazette, but also in the newspaper. And not only will we see their names, but we will also have the opportunity to behold their faces, as the oath of allegiance will be administered in a public ceremony, the first of which will take place tomorrow afternoon in Belmopan.

That first group of twenty-eight, which is top heavy with Taiwanese and Central Americans, is only the tip of a nine hundred strong iceberg of qualified applicants which has been building up since last year’s scandal prompted a go slow on the issuing of passports. That backlog will be eased by a mass swearing in each month that will take us well into the foreseeable future. As an added nod to transparency, the ministry announced that it is in the process of forming a task force on immigration policy, it’s membership and terms of reference to be announced at a later date.