With each new and passing week, this “high-horse riding” government seems to be astutely able to find new and creative ways to provoke the ire of its populace! This is not the first time that they have stirred our nests and provoked us in our burrows; but these latest moves sting with a rather sharp pang. In a parliamentary democracy such as ours, once again, it appears that our very independence is being compromised if not railroaded. And whether you want to believe it or not, even “blind-eye Jamesy” can see the direction in which we are heading. Ayn Rand quite aptly summarizes it and puts it like this: “We are fast approaching the stage of ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission;” and boy, oh boy, I tell you, it smells like totalitarianism!

The most recent Cabinet brief issued on Tuesday, August 10, 2021 was a rather succinct and chilling one. It opened by noting the very low vaccination turnout in the country. Despite their best efforts, a vaccination campaign launch with song and theme and all; and subtle and more pointed threats to get vaccinated, the numbers are not the least bit encouraging. The most recent reports indicate that only 32% of the population have received at-least one dose of the vaccine, while only a mere 13% of the population have been fully inoculated. This falls significantly short of the 80% goal threshold that is being sought, and thus, this doesn’t sit well with them.

So now, with the daunting revelation that not only the Delta variant is now present in Belize, but also the Alpha and the Gamma variants, the government is making haste to tighten their belts and rein in the troops. With a third wave now upon us, and being plagued by at least three confirmed Covid-19 variants of concern, the government (in their most subtle wisdom) have decided that they need to act and that they need to act quickly and decisively. So, the Cabinet brief goes on to declare that the curfew will be extended as a measure to control and mitigate the spread of the virus, which clearly, day by day, is not being mitigated but rather its spread continues to accelerate, unabated.

But the part that sparked outrage was a request that Cabinet made of the Attorney General. It notes that “Cabinet requested the Attorney General seek medical expertise from the Ministry of Health & Wellness to explore all necessary legal measures that the government may lawfully implement to help contain the spread of COVD-19, including options to implement mandatory coronavirus vaccinations for both the public and private sectors”. Now, in far less words and in layman’s terms, the government will be seeking legal corridors to possibly implement mandatory vaccinations for the public and private sectors.

Now, when we got to this part of the Cabinet brief, the kettle whistled and steam spewed through any opening it could find. The nation was boiling— hot! And the reason why the country was so upset, was more than the issue taken with the possibility of mandatory vaccinations. It was because time and time again, this government has gone back on their word and their assurances to the people. Who would have thought, that after saying in the beginning that vaccines would not be mandatory, that we would find ourselves in the very precarious predicament where legal explorations are being made with a view to possibly mandate vaccinations within the public and private sector.

This is not democracy! This is not a part of that (elusive) “plan” that saw a resounding amount of the populace buying on to their ticket! This is derailment. This is tyranny and hypocrisy; at best. But more so, this smells like totalitarianism. I mean, what else can it be? When a democratic government that has been duly elected through a democratic process by the people to serve the people starts acting in contravention of the people and negates the free will and choices of the people; then there’s no other way to put it. It smells like totalitarianism, or despotism; or borderline thereof.

I reckon, that while not explicitly, certain actions by this government that continue to fester so early on in its tenure are subtly, eerily and dangerously indicative of a horrid path that we are heading towards as a country. As a people, as Belizeans, we are losing our grip. The democratic rug upon which we so proudly and comfortably stood, is being callously and ruthlessly yanked from underneath our feet. Our independence, our fundamental rights to choose and our free will are under attack and being compromised. We as a people have to come together and unite. Stand up for what we believe in and save ourselves and our country before it’s too late— before we end up in a state of totalitarianism and despotism.

Remember that:

“Power is never the property of an individual; it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so long as the group keeps together. When we say of somebody that he is ‘in power’ we actually refer to his being empowered by a certain number of people to act in their name. The moment the group, from which the power originated to begin with disappears, his power also vanishes”.

Unchained Reflections Of A Liberal Pragmatist.