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As a layman …

FeaturesAs a layman …

(This column was first published in the Amandala issue of Sunday, September 10, 1995.)

An opportunity…

A group of young men recently announced inchoate plans for a new political party. They seem to believe that a new idea of history creates a new history, for they are saying that their new party will introduce a new political idea. They believe that a majority of Belizeans are ready for a new system of government.

The upcoming City Council election provides a unique opportunity for them to present a modified Republican model and to see whether their belief in taking back Belize for themselves will be mirrored by their conduct in voting for it. The time has come to put up or shut up.

The electors have grown weary of the present politicians, of their double and triple speak. So as you talk the talk, you will become credible of your expressed desire to walk the walk of political reform, if you commit to the following acts:

Your candidates for office will present their résumés, revealing their educational background, their business experience, their police records, their assets and liabilities, and their tax records of the previous year (certified). They will publicly submit their yearly tax returns while in office, and at the end of their term will again publish their assets and liabilities (certified).

You will present your candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor so that the people can decide directly the holders of these offices. This does not only eliminate the internal “deals” which now occur, but also will nullify the influence of the back room power brokers.

You will establish a ceiling for all campaign contributions, and will publish a list of contributors (these contributions should be tax deductible). This would eliminate under-the-table contributions. In a self-confessed “free” society, neither the candidates nor the contributors should have anything to hide.

The platform (manifesto) on which you campaign should be achievable. Hare-brained schemes and pie-in-the-sky promises are insults to the independent thinkers to whom your appeal is made. In your campaign speeches and door to door canvassing you will discuss issues and your solutions to the problems that you perceive. One is not interested in yeri-so”, mud-slinging and slander. Such behavior will belie your belief in reform; such behavior will keep you on the low road of the swill, for upon the assumption of office, it will be impossible for you to take the high road of statesmanship.

You will not offer bribes and “goodies” to win votes. (The electors of this country should rebel against this practice by taking the “goodies” offered and then voting against the giver.) The washing machines or groceries are not worth a Mollejon, nor 25,000 acres of land to the Chinese. The moment you sell your vote, you sell your birthright and your children’s birthright. You maintain your poverty. Your vote is secret: take the bribe and vote for his opponent.

If the opponent engages in the same practice, express your displeasure by writing-in a candidate.

You will have to educate the people that they are the instruments of their own survival. They are their own Messiah. They will take control of their own government only when they accept this fact. This is the difficult task; rest assured that the power brokers will fight to perpetuate the status quo. it is in their sybaritic and lucrative interest to do so. They will harass you, lie on you, ridicule you and try to intimidate you, but to know that you are right is to prevail.

The mood of the people is to change the system of government. This is the opportunity to initiate the change to a modified Republican model of government, and simultaneously to dispatch with the verisimilitudes of the established parties. The replacement of the irrelevant and nonfunctioning Westminster system is the legacy you will leave your children.

Hopeful Cynic

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