Local gov’t officials meet in Belize
Autonomy is a word brandished by almost every municipal politician. In Belize City this week local government officials from throughout the Caribbean are demonstrating their autonomy by meeting to share their problems and progress.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The Secretariat of the Caribbean Association of Local Government Authorities is taking steps to revitalize CALGA after the association remained dormant for sometime.
Irving John, President, CALGA
“What is happening now is that we are spreading the gospel so to speak of CALGA throughout the length and breadth of the Caribbean. In other words, encouraging those countries who do not have local government to get involved in local government.”
The Secretariat has chosen Belize as the venue for the first set of meetings to take place in the Caribbean. It was in Belize the association was formed in 1991. CALGA’s primary role is to promote good local government and community involvement in the decision making process. The association as well, equips elected councilors with the necessary skills needed for them to effectively perform their duties in their respective city and town councils.
Mulchan Lewis, Coordinator, CALGA
“This workshop that we are doing is to provide them with the tools and the knowledge of how they can carry on their day to day activities within their council. How to interact with people, how to bring in other people into the fore in terms of power sharing, decision making, so that everybody within the society is being part and parcel of what is happening and not only from a top down level of authority.”
In March, Belize held its town board elections and the first city council election for Belmopan. Most of the newly elected councilors are attending the four-day conference. Key issues being discussed are redefining the role of local government in terms of governance, political reform and community participation.
Santos Acosta, Councilor, San Pedro Town
“They are asking for decentralization of duties to give the local officials much more authority, much more autonomy and in that way helping them in carrying out their duties more effectively.”
Cassian Nunez, Mayor, Dangriga
“The thrust of the discussion yesterday and today has to do with governance and the theory behind all of this is to get the public involved from he bottom up. It is kind of a new theory for all of us but it is exciting and in Dangriga we have begun to implement some of it thank goodness.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Like what?”
Cassian Nunez
“We had our first open meeting last week and I would say we had an attendance of 40 people that was that was encouraging.”
The councilors also spoke al length about Accountability, Transparency and Ethics.
Froyland Carballo, Councilor, Orange Walk
“Three basic things that we are really getting into with this reform is accountability, transparency and ethics, where we should formulate an ethic code for the councilors that will attract people to become a part of this governance. Then you have the accountability where we can show the people where we are spending the money and how we are spending the money so they can see where their money is going and they will get more involved in the community projects.”
Anthony Chanona, Mayor, Belmopan City
“Conferences as you know can be very idealistic on paper, you should do this you should have transparency, accountability. The real world is, are people going to be better off because of a city council are they going to better off because of a local government having gone into political reform. So the challenge is certainly to get the knowledge from this conference but as I leave Biltmore I need to walk into the reality of Belmopan and my government, whereby the politics of how we govern in Belize kicks in and to find a way how to maneuver through that maize. To find way to put my hand so as to the goods and deliver the services and the promises we made in our manifesto its all back to politics.”
The meeting ends on Friday.
