Political Reform Forum draws crowd
In 1994, the Society for the Promotion of Education and Research, SPEAR, launch a project on political reform by holding a series of public consultations. These meetings resulted in the publication of the document Ten Proposals for Political Reform in March of 1996. Almost three years later, the topic was still a popular subject. In December 1998 Prime Minister Said Musa, appointed a Political Reform Commission, PRC, to review Belize’s system of governance and make suggestions for its improvement. After hosting countrywide workshops on the issue, the PRC came up with a total of one hundred and three recommendations, which were presented to the Government in January of this year. The report was discussed at length by Prime Minister Said Musa and his Cabinet ministers, who accepted more than half of the recommendations and kept the remainder under review. On Tuesday night, SPEAR held a Political Reform Forum, which was facilitated by former commission members and GOB, specifically to look at where are we now.
Godfrey Smith, Attorney General
“The answer to the question Political Reform where are we now, is therefore this. Of the one hundred and three recommendations submitted by the PRC, seven months ago, seventy have been by accepted by the government. Of this seventy, twenty-six require no action on the part of the government. Eleven are completely or substantially on the way. Eighteen are incorporated into the constitutional amendment bill currently before National Assembly and to be enacted later this year. Three are slated for implementation over the next six months. Twelve are targeted for implementation over the remainder of the term of the government. And thirty-three will be further debated and considered by the government over the remainder of its term.”
While Government has shown an initiative towards making changes, former commission member Godwin Hulse feels that there were far more essential recommendations, which the government should have quickly addressed.
Godwin Hulse, Former Member, PRC
“I am a bit dismayed that it would seem that some of the most substantive recommendations are on the backburner. And I would like to suggest to the Attorney General that he suggest to his colleagues to move from the room of foot dragging to the room of fast track. It is only those substantive recommendations such as the amendment to the house, the reform of the Belize Advisory Council, the Elections and Boundaries Commission, so that we have more equitable distribution of the electors. The Auditor General to my mind is one of the big recommendations and one that we have been pushing for a long time. We have not audited for fifteen years and that’s a disgrace. And the Social Security system, which we would like to see brought under control.”
Dylan Vernon, Former Chairman, PRC
“Without going into too much detail because of time, let me first make the following points about the government’s response. As the A.G. has said, twenty-six of the seventy recommendations, called for no change. I believe that if all of the forty-four others are indeed enacted, they can provide the basis, and I stress the word basis, for far reaching changes in our political practice and our political culture. For example, adding the right to basic health care, the right to basic education, as rights enshrined in our constitution, will provide the legal basis for improving people’s access to education and health care. Other important changes that could go very far if we use them include having members of the House, who defect to other parties, resign their seat. Having the House ratify statutory instruments before they are enacted, we know how are abused.”
Following the presentations, the question and answer session allowed audiences both at home and in attendance to voice their concerns and opinions.
Citizen #1
“This is what I call an academic workout…who represents the grass roots. And if you’re going to have a political forum, this is not the place to have it. Take it to the streets where the grass roots people are involved in a political forum.”
Citizen #2
“People who are not politically informed can’t properly appreciate whether or not the system needs reform and what kind of reform it needs. They first have to know the system. But from the time I was growing up, to this present time, anybody caught discussion political issues by the government in power and are talking issues that are not favourable to that government in power, are penalized to the extent that some lose their jobs and some have to flee the country. Our governments whether UDP, PUP or NIP have never encouraged the teaching of politics, the discussion of politics, the debate of politics, so that although we are almost twenty years after independence, most of us don’t know what our constitution contains.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Jose Sanchez.
The Political Reform Report is free of cost and is available at SPEAR’s headquarters located at Thirty-Eight Freetown Road.
