The Flooding, The Financial Challenges, The COVID-19 Crisis, Corruption at Government Ministries, High Crime and High Unemployment, these are the difficult tasks facing the new Government of Belize.
What to tackle first and what priorities and strategies are being developed, implemented and then made functional will be the immediate job of each ministry of this new government.
A government in a small and or mid-size country is like a large corporation with many interdependent divisions that are supposed to work in unison, and efficiently achieve planned goals and target dates.
In very challenging times like the present, ‘Efficiency’ is the buzz-word and the key to getting good results.
All countries are struggling with these problems everyday, but these are very unusual times, and we as a country could find ourselves going ‘up-a-peg’ or ‘down-a-peg’ while we swim through these crisis-es.
Countries that do not navigate the challenges (mentioned above) will be in a very bad state of affairs when the pandemic is over.
Gauging The Pulse Of Belize
In our effort to understand more we have been gauging the sentiments of Belizeans after the election. On many of the radio Talk-Shows’ there seem to be a feeling of both relief and a new chance to Build and become more productive. Listening to those who were guests on some ‘Talk Shows’ we got a feeling that many Belizeans feel it’s a chance for rejuvenation, of neighborhoods, government institutions and businesses.
For that reason I think that it is an opportunity for the ‘New Government’ to make good while people are in a positive mindset to rejuvenate their towns and cities, businesses and the economy.
They talked about ‘Exporting More‘ and ‘Importing Less‘ and they talked about using technology to improve efficiency and get even more done with less. – And they talked about new opportunities of the digital economy, (Online).
Watch How They Do It Over There
In a recent news article at “Governing.Com” titled (Three Small Cities That Are Thriving Despite the Pandemic ), the main reason that the cities are thriving is that they made their economic agenda the main problem to tackle first and foremost. Because almost every other problem was in some way intrinsically tied to the economic health of there city.
Belize is very different from small cities in the United States and one of our main foreign income earner, ‘Tourism’ was 40%-45% of our GDP. That problem ( of low or no Tourism) is projected to be with us until mid 2021.
But the planning and following through with a strategy to navigate the pandemic should be similar to those small cities that are thriving in the midst of the pandemic.
At some point in the near future, the honeymoon for this new government to get good results will be expected, even in the middle of a massive financial ‘debt-to-GDP ratio‘ and the COVID-19 crisis. ( * has increased since that report)
Weathering this storm and navigating the pitfalls of all the challenges mentioned above is like a ship in very rough seas, it needs a good captain, and a crew that realizes the consequences of failure.
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Written & Compiled by: digitalBelize,LIVE Staff writer – digitalCaribbean.live Thursday, November 19th. 2020 – digitalbelize@gmail.com