New Chief Elections Officer appointed

With elections less than six months away, Belize has a new Chief Elections Officer. She is Ruth Meighan, a career public servant with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s in Public Administration. This morning Meighan was officially sworn in as Acting Chief Elections Officer by Danny Madrid, National President of the Association of Justices of the Peace, during a brief ceremony in Burrell Boom. Meighan and her new staff were in the village to participate in a retreat entitled “Building Team Spirit – Promoting Confidence and Accountability” held at the Black Orchid Resort. During a break in the sessions, Meighan told us that with elections right around the corner, she’s had to hit the ground running.

Ruth Meighan, Acting Chief Elections Officer
“The plan today is actually to look at where we are, what kind of preparations we have, what we have in place, what we need to fix, what we need to do to improve. And so actually I’m new in the department so it’s also a learning experience for me, so with the support of our director of the Office of Governance, we will strategise today, plan a way forward as to how we are going to meet the elections coming up.”

Janelle Chanona
“Is it intimidating, the prospect of general elections so soon?”

Ruth Meighan
“Well I cannot say that at this point because I’m actually just in the seat, so there isn’t anything really intimidating as such until I actually get into it and know what it involves. So in terms of telling you how the department operates and runs and things like that, I’m learning, I’m sitting behind the seat, and I’ll do my best in whatever I have to do.”

Janelle Chanona
“And that would be your message to the electorate?”

Ruth Meighan
“To the electorate, to all our stakeholders; we are there, we are working for the Government and people of Belize, we are actually a very important part of the democracy of our country and so that is what we’re all about.”

Meighan has been a public servant for more than twenty years and left her most recent post at the Office of Governance to take over the Elections and Boundaries Department. She succeeds Dorothy Bradley who left the post in mid-September after serving as Acting Chief Elections Officer for only nine months.