Dear Editor,
One good thing about true democracies is that they have an informed populace. Clearly, Belize is not yet one of those true democracies. For one, the Constitution – the boss law of the nation state Belize, excludes every Belizean, except elected lawmakers or area representatives and appointed Senators from joining the Prime Minister in Cabinet to manage our government Ministries. (See The Belize Constitution Chapter 4, Part 5, Section 40, Subsection 2).
And two, the boss law in the nation does not require any sitting Cabinet Minister to give semi-annual or annual public testimony under oath about their Ministry, or anything else of Belizean public interest, to the people and their elected representatives.
For us to be an informed people, sworn public testimony under oath must be given by decision makers and resource managers lawfully responsible for Belizean resources and documents, and area representatives. Naturally, our perjury laws must be stiffened, where weak.
The truthfulness or, untruthfulness of those sworn answers are then what informs the populace of the structures of our government, the skillset, the intellectual capacity and temperament of the men and women lawfully holding offices responsible for managing Belize’s resources and documents.
In addition, some Ministers, such as the Minister of Defence, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Agriculture, Minister Education, Youth and Sports, and Minister of Finance, must be made by law to give annual or semi-annual sworn public testimony before the House Committee responsible for those specific Ministries.
Without this legal semi-annual or annual mandate, Belizeans will remain in the dark, perpetuating the illusion of democracy similar to that suffered by British Hondurans; and, continued by Belizean PM George Price, PM Manuel Esquivel, PM Said Musa and current PM Dean Barrow.
Clearly, it is very likely, the Belizean people hearing regularly from their power brokers under oath, is key to taking Belize unto to the highway to true democracy.
Best regards,
J. C. Arzu
+501-610-2923
Email [email protected]