Village leaders meet in 1st national convention

Approximately half of Belize’s population live in rural areas and with recent legislation giving local councils more power, it is no surprise that village leaders are bonding together to advance their common interests. The first annual general meeting of the National Association of Village Councils is currently underway in San Ignacio and this morning Prime Minister Said Musa offered the grassroots politicians a few words of advice.

Prime Minister Said Musa

“You can’t have a Village Council working to counteract the government of the day; it’s just not going to work. Who are going to suffer? The people, only the people will suffer. The politicians will argue day and night, but if they do not engage in working together in the final analysis for the benefit of the people, only the people suffer. So this is where we have to start, with this whole exercise in deepening of the democratic process, by you the people who have been elected. The people have put their trust in you, you are now supposed to reflect their thinking and their interest, what is best for them.

Now that you’re in politics, you’ll find people that are ungrateful; some, maybe plenty. But that doesn’t mean you must give up. That doesn’t mean you must say, “man, I am volunteering my time and these damn people don’t want to respect what I want to do. To hell with them I am resigning.” No, that should not be the approach. The approach has to be that, I went to you to ask you for the vote because I believe I can make a contribution. You gave me that opportunity, now give me the opportunity to prove to you that together we can do a lot for our village. Don’t give up, don’t give up, hang in there and even those ones who seem like ingrates will come around in the end.”

Opening the meeting was Minister of Rural Development and Culture, Marcial Mes. His ministry co-hosted the event, which concludes on Friday.