The National Flag of Belize receives a face lift

The National Celebrations Commission today announced that the Belize flag is being standardized. For years, Belizeans have complained that the national is not uniform. Relying on historical information and after consultations with experts, the Commission will standardize the design and colour schemes of the national flag. The work begun a few years ago, but it has intensified in recent months with the Commission seeking approval through a Statutory Instrument from Cabinet. It has been a challenge, says Director of the Institute for Social and Cultural Research Nigel Encalada, since there is no document that indicates what the flag should look like but after long and hard research, the team made progress to bring the flag to as close as it was originally conceived at the time of Independence.

Nigel Encalada, Director, Institute for Social & Cultural Research

NIgel Encalada

“That the flag to be designed would closely resemble the description that was lodged at the college of arms in London in 1981, in October 1981 and two that it would reflect the colour schemes of that flag of 1981. Now, seems simple enough. That gave us the guiding principles. What we have represented here is now the colour and design standard of the flag of Belize. So going forward now, what we will be doing is that we will be working with the Attorney General’s office to prepare what are drafting notes for the preparation of an SI. In preparation to do that we have set up a matrix and set of actions where we will consult with heads of departments and so on because there are various things to consider when dealing with the flag. In the case of Belize the Coat of Arms is also the seal of the Government of Belize. Many of you will see it on letter heads and all of these places so one of the requests that we made as well was the adaptation of the Coat of Arms as the seal of the Government of Belize and that was also approved. However, because we know that there are various ways in which it is used in both print form on the internet and the web and so on we realize it is a little bit more complex than we had initially thought. SO, we are going to work through that process in consultation with heads of government.”