The present crowd in government has thrown crumbs for the people. In everything else they are for the rich and famous. What the Cayo South Area Rep, Julius Espat, revealed in the House on Friday about the road rehabilitation/construction taking place in Cayo South is just plain painful. What, all that investment and no pathway for villagers? Please say it ain’t so, Mr. Minister of Works, Rene Montero. Julius Espat is an architect, so he knows how to read plans. But maybe, hopefully, he didn’t see the full sketch.
Hmm, I’ve watched the freeway and wondered, not altogether frivolously, how much Guatemala is contributing fu this. You recall the cart road and how we were to “conjointly” pay for the project to enhance business between us. Our little country shouldn’t be footing the entire burden to facilitate. “Reciprocal ports” was nonsense from Webster’s and it is nonsense now. They will ship 100 sacks, fu free, and we will ship 1 sack, fu free. That doesn’t add up. They taught elocution at St. Michael’s College, and no math!
It is no surprise that the twelve families are hell bent on having their way, but at the least our government should have insisted on pathways for the people. If our Area Rep saw the full details of the plans, then the people who designed the road have no consideration (that means no love) for the people who live in Cayo South.
It is hard to grasp how leaders spawned from the children of slaves and the displaced Maya could have so little soul. I’ve watched what they’re doing and wondered, one, what kind of high speed they are out to facilitate here, two, how we are going to maintain this (it is a massive project), and three, exactly where is the pathway going to go. Belizeans, what is happening here is seismic! Belize has a master plan and they never consulted the people. A four-lane highway from the PGIA to Belize City is worlds away from running a freeway through villages.
Even with a pathway, this “development” will have a mammoth negative effect on life out here. It is to be hoped, prayed for, that somewhere buried in the plans is this pathway, and before the road to Guatemala is done it shall be in place.
I expect the full bellies will look on these pleas and say, come on, don’t be so 3rd world, kip haat. Well, we will, because we paid attention to our history lessons. I will remind them about a story a man named Stretch Lightburn told on KREM some years ago. Mr. Lightburn said that back in the old days a big circus came to Belize, and something happened to it on its way to Mexico, while it was on the sea between Belize City and Caye Caulker.
Cherry pick da noh nice bizniz
Some people would argue that a person is allowed the greatest latitude if that person is defending their home, children, or person. To wit, in defense of Belizean territory, all’s fair¯as in war. I did not include love in the axiom because that is too noble a virtue to one, be lumped with the dastard war, and two, civilized members of our half are guided by some established honor codes for engagements with the other half. I said, some latitude is given in certain circumstances, but harrumph, when the matter is feelings within and the lady says “no”, it is “no.”
Ahem, allow me to stray here…an elected leader who is “possessive” with the job is no different from a man who doesn’t understand NO.
Hmm, the yes vote is fighting dirty. But that is no excuse for the no vote and all their “cherry picking.” In any arena, “cherry picking” is¯not fair. If I were talking to my usual companions, the trees and animals in my yard, and fish, I’d be more graphic. I have my culture. I do not think it is right to cherry pick the truth.
The following story has no relation to this one.
Searching for more Bakassi facts
Let me begin by saying that this is not a discussion about colonialism and expansionism and other European faults. Those are well documented and damned.
Some anti-ICJ proponents believe the ICJ’s ruling in the Nigeria/Cameroon dispute over the Bakassi should be a warning to us. The Bakassi story is fascinating, complex, one that would capture the imagination even if the ruling had no implications for Belize. As we know, the most important thing before going to any court (of course you have no choice if you are dragged, or forced there) is to know the grounds (your case) on which you stand. The second most important thing is to know the court that will hear your case, and the third is to get a good lawyer.
I have written a couple or three times on this Bakassi story, showing the extent of my grasp on the matter. Those who say the Bakassi ruling should strike fear of the ICJ in our hearts haven’t put anything new on the plate recently. I believe in perfected truth, so I look forward to their contributions. The ruling is significant, and that is why I keep searching for more threads. I remain unshaken in my position that the ICJ, based on the matter before it, ruled justly.
I’ve done some searching to find out more details about the physical of the Bakassi. The Wikipedia says that the Bakassi peninsula “consists of a number of low-lying, largely mangrove covered islands covering an area of around 257 sq. miles.”
Based on that information, I get a picture of the Turneffe Atoll in my mind. The Wikipedia says Turneffe is 30 miles long and 10 miles wide (300 sq.miles), and it consists of “highly productive flats, creeks, and lagoons dotted by more than 150 mangrove islands and higher cayes with savanna and littoral forest.”
The Wikipedia and some other sources have estimated the population in the Bakassi peninsula at 300,000. But David Hecht at irinnews.org says the “number of people living on the peninsula is wildly disputed, from as few as 10,000 to as many as a million.” He said that part of the difficulty in estimating the population in the area “is that much of the population is mobile and depends on fishing.”
We are informed that the ICJ ruling on the Bakassi is based primarily on an Anglo-German treaty of 1913.The Nigerians held that the British had no right to hand over territory that belonged to the Kings and Chieftains in Old Calabar (present day Nigerian territory).
One of Nigeria’s strong arguments was that the Bakassi was effectively occupied by Nigerians. Moki Edwin Kindzeka, in the 2013 story, “Cameroon takes control of Bakassi”, wrote: In keeping with a 2002 International Court of Justice ruling that ceded the territory[Bakassi] to Yaounde, some 300,000 Nigerians living on the peninsula — approximately 90 percent of its population — must now obtain residence permits and be treated as foreign nationals living in Cameroon if they choose to stay after Wednesday’s deadline.
But, Hecht said the population cannot be substantiated, and in this 2012 story, “Bakassi Peninsula: Legal dimensions of self-determination threat”, by Femi Falana, SAN (www.vanguardngr.com), a somewhat different story emerges. Here goes:
When Nigeria and Cameroon were preparing for their independence, the people of Southern Cameroon were faced with three posers: whether to join Cameroon, Nigeria or just to remain as an independent country all in a bid to properly determine where their interests would be best served. It was against this background that the United Nations in 1961 conducted a plebiscite where they put two alternatives in the ballot box-to be with Nigeria or Cameroon…Northern Cameroon voted to be united to Nigeria while the English speaking Southern Cameroon voted to be part of the French Cameroon.
…Bakassi is arguably believed in some quarters to be part of the Southern Cameroon and there were insinuations that the people of Bakassi also participated in the plebiscite. Some people even argued that they also voted to be part of Cameroon. For instance, Dr. Nowa Omoigui… posited inter alia that “during the Cameroon/Nigeria plebiscite of 1961, 21 polling stations were physically located in the Bakassi peninsula. UN records clearly show that approximately 73% of the people living there AT THAT TIME voted NOT to be administered under independent Nigeria…”
…If that was the situation however, one wonders why the area was not immediately annexed to Cameroon at the time when the Southern Cameroon was joined with French Cameroon or could it have been that the United Nations did not [allow] Bakassi to form part of the French Cameroon at the time given the territory’s cultural homogeneity with Nigeria?”
I close with this: the Bakassi story is as complicated as it gets. In that it is very different from the Belize story. Our case will be the easiest the ICJ has ever heard. Guatemala doesn’t stand a “snowball’s chance in hell.” Hurrah!