Written & Compiled by: digitalBelize,LIVE Staff writer – digitalCaribbean.live Sunday, November 15th. 2020At a time of transition from one government to a new government, the temptation to try to hold on to power and the keys to the offices of government leads many a countries into disarray or even chaos or coup.
The humility expressed by some of the men and women we elected to be our government, previous and present, is part of the tradition of how we were brought-up as children. The respect for process, the rule-of-law, and foremost is our tradition of respect, decency and civility.
Despite all it’s problems, our little Belize is better than most.
On Thursday, November 12th. many Belizeans saw, or heard of some sparks of corruption at various government facilities. But the temptation to not relinquish the keys to the offices and facilities that they were entrusted with, did not happen.
For 12 plus years the UDP Government were handed the keys to the installations and facilities, ministries, departments, equipment and the authority to be the government.
The actual transfer of authority to be the ‘Government of Belize’ takes place at the time the new Prime Minister takes the ‘Oath of Office’; when he has the ‘Bible’ in his hand, he is given the authority to be the leader of the Government of the country of Belize. – (1) By the vote of the people of Belize, and by (2) ‘The Constitution’ (law) and by the process carried out by the Governor General.
To the children of the 21st. century, some who have never seen the inside of a church, or held a Bible, and the revered tradition, it may seem meaningless.
After all, what would stop some appointed person from a previous government from taking all the furniture, or office supplies, office equipment, vehicle or air-condition system that they had used as if it were their own property, and that they had in their possession for many years.
Civility, the respect for the rule of law and ‘THE CONSTITUTION’ is what ditters those who may seek to take control by force; – it prevents our nation from falling into chaos and greed for un-ending power and control of the property they were entrusted with.
The most challenging task that faces the new ‘Government of Belize’ is the COVID-19 Pandemic. At last count 88 people have died from COVID related complications, (10 people died on Friday and 3 on Saturday, November 13th. and 14th.)
With no ‘Minister of Health’ for the immediate days following the election the ‘Ministry of Health’ is like a plane without a pilot, but with the co-pilot being Dr. Manzanero and others in the ministry, we should; hopefully have a smooth path or transition to the new ministry that must solve the most damaging event to our economy and health. But if we did not have ‘Civility’ it could quickly have turned into an atmosphere of chaos and decay in our health system.
In some countries, their health system breaks down even when there aren’t any elections.
In December of 2017 neighboring Honduras was rocked by civil unrest as election results became unclear and rumors of mysterious breakdown of ballot counting machines.
The U.S based Brookings Institute wrote, “What Honduras’ election crisis reveals about Latin America’s broader democracy challenges”.
“On Tuesday, the TSE started to update its figures, showing the sitting president gaining on Nasralla. On Wednesday, Hernandez pulled ahead, and by Monday December 4 was up by 1.6 percent with 99.96 percent of the vote counted, even as the opposition demanded a review and recounts. The OAS and EU election monitoring missions appealed for calm until all the results were in on Wednesday, and sought assurances that the candidates would respect the TSE findings. Nasralla agreed, but quickly reneged after the vote counting system mysteriously went down for five hours.”
Democracy is a very ‘Fragile’ ideal, and ‘Civility’ is not law, but is within our way of life and the way we were thought the world should be.
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Written & Compiled by: digitalBelize,LIVE Staff writer – digitalCaribbean.live Sunday, November 15th. 2020 – digitalbelize@gmail.com
