N.G.C. Wants Garifuna Communities to Vote for Garifuna Slate

Ifasina Efunyemi

With village council elections being held in many communities across the country, the National Garifuna Council, the representative body for all Garifuna communities in Belize, has issued a release with respect to the politicization of the process at the micro-level. In the statement issued on Friday, the N.G.C. says, “it does not support partisan politics because it has never positively impacted our people. As such, we are concerned about reports of non-Garinagu vying for office in one of our communities. N.G.C. is encouraging our members and the wider community to exercise their rights and choose leadership that will represent the best interests of the Garinagu”. News Five spoke with the communications director for the National Garifuna Council earlier today.

Ifasina Efunyemi, Assistant Secretary, N.G.C.

“What we have observed at the council is that within our communities which have always been welcoming of non-Garinagu, we have seen a thrust by non-Garinagu to take up political leadership in our communities which for us would not be such a bad thing if we saw that that thrust would have been in the best interest of our Garifuna communities. Unfortunately, what we see happening in our communities is that when certain persons get into a position of power there is a threat to the preservation of Garifunaduo in our Garifuna communities and we do not see that happening in other communities. Other ethnic groups enjoy homogeneity in their communities; they are the only ones in their communities so they might not even have this issue as a concern for them. We want to encourage our people to be supportive of Garinagu in Garifuna communities because as an organization that is a part of our mandate to promote Garifunaduo and one of the ways to promote Garifunaduo is active citizenship in our Garifuna communities and of course active leadership in our Garifuna communities by Garinagu.  So we simply are encouraging Garinagu to participate in the political process and to support Garinagu in leadership in Garifuna communities. That’s what we essentially want, is for our people to come out and support Garifuna people as leaders in Garifuna communities.”