Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage gets 17,000 signatures
The Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage’s campaign to push the government for a Referendum has been in full throttle over the past few months. The Prime Minister indicated that he would entertain a referendum on the issue of drilling once seventeen thousand signatures were signed by registered voters. According to Oceana Belize, a coalition member, more than seventeen thousand signatures have been collected and the group intends to boost the campaign to save protected areas and the reef from potential oil spills.
Audrey Matura-Shepherd, V.P., Oceana Belize
Audrey Matura-Shepherd
“The campaign to get a referendum to get the signatures is an initiative from the Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage. Oceana is only one of the members assisting. We’ve been very proactive in how we attain these signatures and today we are proud to report that we’ve passed the seventeen thousand (17,000) bench mark. We have not made a big deal about it per say because we know while that legally is the amount of signatures we need to be able to present to the Governor General to trigger the referendum, we have always been very cognizant that that it is only ten percent of the voting population and the legislation requires that sixty (60) percent or more of the voters come out to be able to make this a successful referendum. Also from that sixty percent, on our issue, we need to get the majority. So that was only phase 1. Phase 2 is we’re going to our massive public outreach and campaign. Wherein we’re moving into cities, towns and villages and house to house we hope to visit people. We want that when we go that they to welcome us so that they only hear the information and then they make up their mind as to what they want.”
Is this nonsense even worthy of news? Drill baby drill.
People of Oceana are trying their best to not let the government allow offshore drilling but no matter how much Ocean tries once the US has its hands on the project there’s no one who can stop them. another thing is that Belize is a country that is greedy for money, once you show money you can get whatever it is you want. People don’t open their eyes to see that every government works on conspiracy to downgrade its people not to uplift but to make them poorer by taking away their resources and bending them to their will. Just look at what happened with the bus issue. i think if individuals should become knowledgeable about what is happening around them then they would decide who to believe. The bus issue is just a political movement. The UDP government knows that majority of the people of the north are PUP and are under the Briceno constituency thats why they tried to cripple them with the bus issue so that it would create havoc and by this it would turn the tables against Briceno. People would then begin to judge Briceno as the bad dog for not doing good for his people but the ball is not in his court to do as he pleases. Majority of seats in the government are RED. This government is becoming just like the USA, they plan, they do, they conspire against their own people and then they lie in their people’s faces and they don’t care what hurts who as long as they are in power but its always the poor that suffers.
The oil money is what’s keeping the country afloat right now and paying our debts, and government wages – teachers, policemen, bdf. I hate it when developed countries want to keep us poor.
oceana is here just to make money. bs that they just want to protect belize.
I think majority of ordinary people in Belize are sick and tired of politics. They have been burn too many times. You no longer know who to believe – without doing an in-depth research.
Anyways, this particular issue is pretty easy to decide upon, even if you did not attend school, but have common, logical, or moral sense enough to consider it important to protect the environment that our children and future generations will inherit.
At this point it is not important who is carrying the banner or leading the struggle, although we should acknowledge the persistence of Oceana, we Belizeans should naturally feel a sense of responsibility to stand up and defend what we believe is good for the entire nation. Keep the momentum Oceana, i hope the coalition can be strengthened with the adherence of new economic members because we will surely need some capital to mobilize the masses to obtain at least 60 % of registered voters. Once the percentage is attained, i am confident that the majority will vote for NO OFFSHORE DRILLING, and NO DRILLING IN PROTECTED AREAS!!!
Kudos