People’s Constitutional Commission Bill Introduced in HOR

Henry Charles Usher

In keeping with its Plan Belize manifesto, the Briceño administration is moving full steam ahead towards constitutional reform. To this end, Henry Charles Usher, the Minister of Constitutional Reform, introduced a People’s Constitutional Commission Act earlier today in the House of Representatives. That piece of legislation lays the foundation for the establishment of the commission, the appointment of members, procedures of meetings, and the autonomy of the commission.  With members of the Good Governance Unit already named, Minister Usher says his Ministry intends to launch the Commission in the coming weeks.

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Constitutional Reform

“In Plan Belize the People’s United Party made several commitments to the people of Belize in regards to de-colonization. In Plan Belize we had the quote, the story of our people is one of resistance and resilience, forging a cultural and decolonization project in our sovereign and independent nation state of Belize. Madam Speaker, forty one years after our independence, it is high time that we as a nation own our Independence we need to continue this decolonization project. So, I am very proud to stand here to introduce this bill. It has a long gestation period, Madam Speaker. The Prime Minister spoke about this process back in his September first address in 2021. In the budget presentation, we spoke about the process of developing and creating a unit and making sure we have this Commission in place. So, I am happy we are at the point where we can introduce this Bill to the House. It was felt Madam Speaker, originally, that we should have gone through the three reading, but after further reelection we decided that this is of such national importance that it is important we just do the first reading and just allow the people of Belize to have an opportunity to address and make comments on this piece of legislation.”