Village leaders meet in first ever assembly
It can be argued that the heart and soul of Belize lies not in its cities and towns, but in the villages. Yet these communities, accounting for nearly half of the nation’s population, have had little overt impact on national policy making. But that may soon be changing.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Eight months after the first ever Village Council Act came into effect, the first assembly of the National Association of Village Council leaders has been held. First on the agenda were elections.
Roy Cayetano, P.S, Ministry Rural Development and Culture
“The National Association of Village Councils is actually mandated by the Village Councils Act. Where individual Village Councils may have difficult speaking for themselves, they can be spoken for by the District Association and at an even higher level, by the National Association. So it really represents a coming together of the voices of all of our villages, speaking through their district associations, speaking through their national association.”
Close to two hundred participants including community leaders and village council members met to come up with strategies and plans to improve the quality of life in their communities. The participants expressed a number of concerns.
Julio Ruano, Chairman, El Progresso Village Council
“Progresso is a village of approximately 500 inhabitants and we work and this village produces vegetables and all the people work on the farms, but we need a water system. We don’t have water, but the government promised a water system.”
Jacqueline Woods
“So water is your problem right now in Progresso?”
Julio Ruano
“We don’t have no water right now.”
David McDougal, Chairman, Sittee River Village Council
“Two years a period is too short for any chairman that would like to do some constructive development in their village. So I had supported the fact that it should be three years, which will give the chairman enough time to lobby with Central Government to do whatever amount of project needed to be done in that community. So in that three years, he will be satisfied that he has done something for his community.”
Eleanor Sandlin, Secretary, Monkey River Village Council
“Some of our concerns is concerning the new Village Council Act. What it will do to the village, what powers it will give to the village? One of our concerns it that you have the Toledo District, is the east and the west and we have members that were elected for the District Association and six went to the west and one to the east. And now we are trying to resolve that and that is one our main concerns along with what can this association do. How can it help the village councils? What can it do for Village Councils that are not active, that they are there but they do nothing for the village? And what we really hope that is that this new association will oversee smaller…all the village councils at least once a year to make sure that they are really working, that they are doing what they are supposed to be doing in their village and give us more authority in our own village, to implement our owns laws and rules that we would like to see in our village.”
In his keynote address, Prime Minister Said Musa said his government is committed to rural development and that the newly formed association has his full support.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“Our government is committed to these principles. It is for this reason that we heard the cries of village leaders and appreciated the efforts of the National Village Council Commission, which indicated to us that they wanted a law to give village councils legal identity and insure that people in our villages have a voice in the conduct of their affairs. As you will recall, we pledged in our manifesto to Set Belize Free that we would quote “Increase local autonomy and participation by enacting a Village Council Act in consultation with Village Councils.”
“The establishment of good governance at village level is an important part of the strategy to bring development to rural Belize. My friends, just as how development is inextricably tied to democracy, just as how development is inextricably tied to the respect for human rights, so too development in rural communities is tied to democracy in rural communities. And you who are here represent that will to exercise full democracy throughout Belize in all the villages of this great country.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Jacqueline Woods.
The two-day first-of-its-kind meeting was opened on Thursday by Minister of Rural Development Marcial Mes. It was held at Novelos Convention Centre in San Ignacio.
