On February 20, 2020, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) came out en masse in a march through the streets of Belize City against corruption in government. The UDP, which came to power in 2008 with massive support from the unions because they, the unions, had concluded that the PUP had not been above board in its handling of the people’s assets in their 1998 to 2008 governments, particularly the 1998 to 2003 one, also failed miserably in its handling of the people’s assets. The UDP did win three consecutive terms between 2008 and 2020, and much of that success was connected to the sourness in the people’s craw over PUP failure. The UDP did not deliver for the people, and when the people thought that the PUP had done sufficient penance, the UDP was driven from office, suffered one of the worst defeats at the polls since independence.
Corruption in the UDP government forced the NTUCB into the streets. Their march was against corruption, and prominent among the six demands of the NTUCB was the effective implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). The results of the 2020 general election could be interpreted as a resounding response by the Belizean people to the call of the unions. The PUP promised major reforms, including the effective implementation of the UNCAC.
On some matters, the PUP has been quick to the task. Notably, the disappointing check and balance body, the Public Accounts Committee, which had massively failed the people for decades, has been reconstituted, and with the addition of non-partisan senators and reduced power for the government on the body, the people are hopeful. Other reforms have languished, notably reform of the Elections and Boundaries Commission. The debate for Campaign Finance Reform has barely begun.
When the PUP introduced the 11th amendment, which calls for a broader interpretation of Section 58, which declares, among other things, that a person is disqualified from membership in the House of Representatives if they have been convicted of felonious activities and served time in jail, some opposition party members described the amendment as a kind of witch hunt. The amendment could have led to the disqualification of the present UDP leader, Hon. Shyne Barrow, who has a criminal record. While “missiles” were hurled from blue to red across the aisle, the independent senators seized on the opportunity created and started agitating for wholesale reform of the Constitution.
This proposed 11th Amendment wasn’t exactly a part of the PUP’s promise to fight corruption, and just as it was when laid on the table, it remains. The PUP could/might claim that its anti-corruption reform efforts were slowed, since it hasn’t done much by way of reform. Full-scale revision of the Constitution, the call of the independent senators, has now taken over. The People’s Constitution Commission (PCC), under the leadership of highly respected former Senator and Belmopan Mayor, Anthony Chanona, held its inaugural meeting on November 24, 2022, and it has 18 months, to educate and consult with Belizeans at home and abroad, and to deliver their report to the government. If the National Assembly determines that the report is “of sufficient national importance”, the people would vote on it in a referendum.
Full-scale reform of the Constitution is a victory for a number of prominent members of the intellectual class, who have been agitating for years for us to rip up the present Constitution, much of it. They could never create a groundswell, and then opportunity came knocking on their door. Full-scale revision of the Constitution definitely wasn’t forced on the government. What was forced on the government is that they tackle corruption meaningfully, or else.
One of the fears expressed by a number of citizens is that the time “given” to address the Constitution is too short. It’s hard to see us covering all the bases in such a short period. It might be better if we zeroed in on the parts of the Constitution that deal with the critical issue: the mandate given to the PUP to meaningfully tackle the endemic beast of corruption. We definitely wouldn’t want that to be diluted. Non-urgent matters could be put off until another day.
“Hurry come up” has served us poorly before. Belize actually gave up some “democracy” when a law against crossing the floor was passed by the 1998-2003 PUP. It was a recommendation of the PUP in 1997, that crossing the floor be made unconstitutional, and a political reform committee bought it and recommended it when they published their list of reforms in 2000. The genesis of that law was PUP embarrassment for allegedly having tried to seduce two members of the UDP to cross over after the PUP lost 16-13 in the 1993 general election. The PUP had seduced members of the UDP to cross over before; Toledo West’s Vicente Choco (1974-1979 government) and Toledo West’s Stanley Usher (1989-1993 government), but only to strengthen their government. If the PUP had succeeded in 1993, in what it was accused of, it would have been a reversal of the will of the people.
We could leave the King alone, for another time. Some want the King’s ceremonial representative, the Governor General, to be replaced by a ceremonial president. The idea has become quite popular in the Caribbean; some countries have actually gone ahead and installed a ceremonial president, and there have been awkward moments created by anti-monarchs in some states when members of the Crown have visited.
Some have said that in our system the prime minister is more powerful than a president in the republican system. Some prime ministers appear very powerful indeed, only with the support of Cabinet. Then, we could say Cabinet is too powerful. In the republican system, the president surrounds him/herself with his/her people, and the people cheer or grin and bear it, without the possibility of change, until an election comes.
The mandate for governments is five years, but governments can be forced from office by a vote of no confidence in the House of Representatives. In the present Constitution, the government has the power to call new elections at any time, and this has been done on occasions for tactical reasons. The tenure of governments in Belize became a lot more secure when crossing the floor was outlawed.
NPR (National Public Radio (US)) stated that the British, whose system is like ours, have had FIVE different prime ministers in just six years. In the US, a republican system, presidents are almost impossible to touch, and only extreme events can cause them to not win a second four-year-term. In the republics, some of them right around us, the debate can be dispensed with when the powerful don’t like a sitting president. They just call in the military.
Our Constitution needs a full airing out, but not at the expense of the prize. We know what that is. Corruption, corruption, corruption; let us not be diverted. Other matters in our Constitution can be set aside, for a later date, while matters of the Constitution that deal with our nation’s wealth take priority. When we have clean government, a time when all are sharing in the wealth untold of this nation, then we, removed from our present stress, can sit around the table and talk about the King, and whether God should be removed from the Constitution.