From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“Cronyism is the practice of partiality in awarding jobs and other advantages to friends or trusted colleagues, especially in politics and between politicians and supportive organizations.  For example, cronyism occurs when appointing ‘cronies’ to positions of authority regardless of their qualifications.  This is in contrast to a meritocracy, in which appointments are made based on merit.”

Monday, August 22, 2022
Nothing is as simple as it seems, and there are many angles to a topic, but for sure, Belizean citizens are running out of patience with the carelessness, incompetence, indiscipline and confusion that seems to have our whole society in a state of stress and frustration bordering on despair. If it’s not one thing, it’s the other. The surging crime wave – robberies, home invasions, rapes, cold-blooded murders; and then there are the repeated reports of accidental fires and set fires, so many poor folks getting burnt out, losing everything, sometimes with deadly consequences. Additionally, fatal road accidents continue at a rapid rate, especially from motorcycles; and we still have to deal with the epidemics, from Covid-19 to now monkeypox, and what next? Yet, more and bigger “skyscrapers” keep going up everywhere it seems, even while poor people are crying about low wages and rising prices. It’s for real as Marley sang, “… hunger and starvation, lamentation” in the land.
But, nothing is as simple as it seems. And with all this obscene wealth on display all around us, the question must be asked: If there are so much riches in this land, why are so many people so poor? Something is not adding up. Is there a scale with one setting for some people, and a different setting for others? Are we all Belizeans, or what? Granted, the more educated, skilled and industrious individuals will make more money than the low-skilled laboring folks. Fair enough. But where did it all go wrong, where so many are unemployed, and even the hard laboring person is struggling just to get the basic necessities for living?
There are global issues, like oil, and everything that happens in this little Belize is connected to everything else in some way or the other. And, like the seemingly insoluble gang problem, the mess that we as a nation have found ourselves in is so complicated and frustrating that it is tempting to just throw our hands up in the air, and like some of our religious folks may say, leave it to God.
But Allah/God helps those who help themselves. So we must figure out a way to turn things around where they have been going wrong for so long.
In 2008, the new UDP government embarked on a campaign to return “honesty, transparency and accountability” to government, a noble objective. Unfortunately, their efforts, if indeed they were once sincere, were considered by the electorate to be a dismal failure in the 2020 general elections. So the PUP is now in control, while the UDP seems to be falling apart.
Belizeans are blessed that, even as the Opposition is currently floundering in confusion and inner turmoil, the PUP leaders have been steadily making progress in advancing their PlanBelize goals. But, “once bitten, twice shy”; and the Belizean people are still keeping watch to ensure that our PUP leaders stay on track and don’t fall into bad habits like their predecessors. Already, there are signs of developing arrogance with some ministers, and a tendency toward stifling citizen freedoms and muzzling dissent from political opponents in the name of crime prevention.
Nevertheless, on a scale of 1 to 10, considering the tremendous handicap they started with in November 2020, we would be tempted to give this PUP government a passing grade, perhaps even an 8 for what they have accomplished so far. But that said, the job of referees in a game is to blow the whistle when infractions occur, and otherwise “let the game play.” So, those with “thin skin” better consider the nature of the profession and make adjustments going forward.
With all that has gone wrong over the years and is still going wrong, despite the corruption and hard times and hunger, Belizeans are resilient and we tend to help out each other in times of stress; but it is the murders, the reckless loss of life at such an alarming rate, and so many young citizens with productive years ahead of them, that keeps our communities seemingly in a perpetual state of grieving. We can’t continue like this. Each time we think we may be making progress, something terrible happens, like the recent tragedy with Derrick Uh in Corozal, and Leroy Cus in Belmopan.
The Commissioner of Police recently reiterated something he has said before, and the full weight of its implications has perhaps not been acknowledged. Cronyism has always been a sticking thorn in our politics. Whether it is for favors, or jobs, or contracts, or perks of different sorts, politicians will try to use their influence to pressure public servants to do their bidding, even when it is outside the scope of their authority. So that there are a number of people with jobs and positions in different government departments who got there only because of the nod of a politician and the acquiescence of a senior public officer. This has been going on for years, and maybe that’s why there has long been the complaint of lackadaisical service from certain public officers who think they are untouchable. Shockingly, in the past UDP administration, when a certain minister was in charge of both the Police and BDF, it has been revealed that aspiring young police recruits needed a letter from the said minister to fortify their recruitment efforts. This practice was unprecedented, and it is suggested that therein may lie the seeds of the current low morale and some negative elements within the Police Department. There is a constant “house cleaning” taking place, confessed the Commissioner, where almost every week one or more officers are being expelled from the force. But with over 2,000 officers in the Police Department, he acknowledged that this long developing problem will not go away quickly.
Now, corruption and cronyism have always been problems for political administrations to one degree or another. But if there is one department whose members we absolutely must hold to a higher standard, because they are the day-to-day watchdogs for all the rest of us, that would be our Police Department. And, as the evidence indicates, that department has also now been compromised by having some individuals in positions due to political favoritism instead of merit, which can only lead to the demoralization of the rank and file, the seeds of incompetence, leading to the development of networks of rogue officers within the Department.
As committed, accessible and engaged as he might be, with this huge administrative problem not of his making, the present Commissioner of Police has become a lightning rod to absorb the repeated complaints of a frustrated public due to perceived police failures, incompetence or outright abuses. It is a formidable task indeed, to address the scourge of crime and violence, especially that associated with illegal drug sales by competing gangs, while monitoring and controlling the conduct of police officers, when there are apparently a number of “bad eggs” within his own team of men charged with carrying out this important duty.
The legacy we have inherited from the adventurous power mania of one Police Minister will not be easily or quickly erased. It will take time, unless a hasty, drastic and reckless approach is attempted, which could result in a mass of weapon-trained individuals being abruptly tossed out into the ranks of the unemployed, to perhaps bolster the strength of existing gangs. This is a serious problem that cannot be solved overnight. Our old folks used to say, “When yo hand eena taiga mout, tek it out slow.” (When your hand is in tiger’s mouth, take it out slowly.”) Which is what it appears the current Commissioner is attempting to do. Keep watch, Belizeans!