Fort George Area Representative on Caye Caulker Joining Fort George

Henry Charles Usher

Since the proposal to join Caye Caulker with the Fort George Division, following the redistricting exercise, residents from that island village has expressed an intent to lead a petition on the grounds that they don’t want to be a part of Fort George.  They also contend that they were never consulted by the Redistricting Task Force before it made that proposal. Today, Fort George Area Representative, Henry Charles Usher said that while the residents have a right to petition the proposal, there is precedent that has been set before, and added that the matter still needs to be voted on in the House of Representatives.

Henry Charles Usher, Area Representative, Fort George

“There’s a task force. Um, is the ultimate body that deals with redistricting. Um, it’s not done, or it can’t, the powers that they have, the authority that they have under the constitution should not be fettered in any way. But yes, they have all rights to consult with, with residents. They can consult other jurisdictions to see how redistricting exercises were done there. They can also, um, look at what was done in the past. Belize resort used to include Caye Caulker. And, uh, Belize Rural South included areas in Belize, Belize District as well. In the past, there was Belize Rural North and Belize Rural South. Belize Rural Central was added in. Belize Rural South included areas like, um, Um, like boom, like in fact, it was at Gale’s Point. Gale’s Point was part of Belize as well, so including Caye Caulker and San Pedro. So there is precedent for an island to be part of a, of the mainland, um, so that has happened in the past. So I think it’s something, um, yes, the constitution talks about looking at geography, well, the specific wording they say is the physical attributes of the constituency, um, but we also have to take into account how, um, how it worked in the past as well.”