Dear Editor,
There was a very interesting programme on BBC World a week or so ago about the impact of 21st century technology—specifically information gathering and dissemination via cell phones, Internet forums, Facebook, Twitter, and others. Reports, facts, opinions, rumors, photographs and even film clips are being sent around the world every day uncovering the truth for all to see, and informing the people.
Ok, so what has this to do with Belize? A lot, is the answer.
Most governments, including our own, give the informing of the electorate a very low priority. It is not hard to see why. The fewer people who know about whatever decisions are made, the less challenges there can be. And by the time the general public does find out, it is generally too late to react or change the decision.
My work with South Coast CSD has, in a few short months, shown that this comfortable blanket of secrecy is spread across much of Belize’s infrastructure and government departments. It is true that there are some honourable individuals, departments and organizations that do make a genuine effort to inform, but most do not. The Prime Minister is aware of this, and that is the reason he has spoken about transparency in government. Sadly, it has not yet been achieved.
However, the world cares about transparency, and there are organizations such as Transparency International (www.transparency.org) whose views carry a lot of weight in the international community. In our present financial predicament, let us not forget how dependent we are on being a society which is regarded as a safe one in which to invest.
So we have a situation where even Ministers do not answer e-mails, where departments fail to respond to even basic inquiries, and all this to stifle genuine interest amongst the people of this country as to what is being done in our name. What decisions are being made, by whom, and why?
However the Internet, cell phones, Facebook, and so on are changing all that. Last week’s programme made a very telling observation. Governments, even the most totalitarian governments, can do little to stop this velvet revolution happening. That is why we see on a cell phone camera, a British policeman pushing an elderly man to the ground, a student brutally murdered in Iran, mass protests in Burma, Israel’s illegal use of phosphorus bombs in Gaza, American air strikes killing civilians in Afghanistan, and so on.
All of these incidents were officially denied by the governments involved, but when cell phone film footage comes to light, shot by people on the ground at the time, and beamed around the world, the story has to change. Ministers resign; senior officials are sacked; whole departments are destabilized; and international credibility is weakened.
The programme went on to say that governments are losing the battle to keep everything quiet. They can no longer rely on secrecy, but must increasingly be prepared to share information and the decision making process with the people who put them in office. This is happening even here in Belize.
Consider the story of the ill-fated Jamaican attempt to hijack our commercial fishing via a cooperative venture in Punta Gorda. It is a matter of record that one afternoon last December one of the largest and stormiest meetings ever held in PG roundly condemned the Jamaican proposals. Yet a mere week before the meeting, this subject was a complete secret to most people. We have unequivocally to thank Facebook for this. The astonishing speed at which this proposal surged through the ether via Facebook, informing people not just in Southern Belize, not just nationally across Belize, but across the entire world was possibly a first for Belize. In the event, apart from support internationally, people from up and down the coastal communities of Belize united in their opposition to the proposals.
Small wonder that the Prime Minister was, within a few hours, making a firm pledge that Jamaican boats would not be allowed to fish in Belizean waters.
This is the power of the Internet at work. What would have happened five years ago? The proposal, which already had the written approval of Fisheries Department, when it came to light, would have been nodded through, and another little bit of Belize would have been sold off. Just like the Placencia marina was, and the North Placencia International airport was.
The ironic thing is that the unnecessary secrecy surrounding a lot of what happens in Belmopan and Belize City damages the government. The cynics say “Oh, it’s kept quiet because this or that individual has been bribed.”
I disagree. Perhaps there are corrupt individuals in our society. There are such in every society, and there are also those who would take advantage of the secrecy. But this official secrecy is maintained for a much simpler reason; it’s just much easier to govern and make decisions in your department if you know you will not have to explain or justify them subsequently.
In the unlikely event that anyone is called to account by an inquiry, it’s ‘I have no recollection of that,” or “Not as far as I remember.” We have heard all that many times, haven’t we?
The Prime Minister has called for transparency; we have a Freedom of Information Act, but most of all we have the Internet. We can talk to each other around the world, and we do. Let those who would maintain the blanket of secrecy take notice that 21st century technology is working against them. Change now before you get caught out.
Chris Harris
South Coast Citizens for Sustainable Development