Stop Looking Back

Friday Independence Hill will once again be the scene of protest.  It will not be the first protest against the Barrow Administration, but it will be the biggest so far.

The largest group of protesters will be the teachers, who believe more time is needed to study the amendments to the new education bill.    Some will be out there because they continue to feel that it was wrong for the Minster of Foreign Affairs to comment that our borders with Guatemala are “artificial,” and some will come to express their dissatisfaction with other aspects of governance.

While the representatives of the people are engaged in the legislative process inside the National Assembly, outside the people will be   voicing their dissatisfaction with their Government over a number of issues.

For Prime Minister Barrow and his administration this cannot be a good sign.  After just two years in office the UDP must deal with the fact that Belizeans are growing increasingly more impatient with this administration’s inability to deliver on any of its important promises.

Whatever reasons the UDP may have for not being able to deliver on their promises, those reasons are now starting to fall on deaf ears.  After two years the people are now ready and are starting to agitate.  They are doing so because they see no sign of progress.

The last two years have been hard on Belizeans both emotionally and financially.  From the incessant crime wave to the rising cost of living, from the broken streets and roads to the inefficiency from local and national governance people have had to endure and accept less than is expected from a government that promised so much.  And while they have yet to start to deliver, there has been no shortage of excuses and blame.

When the UDP came to office in 2008 the world economy was already in recession, so the Prime Minister cannot say this was an unexpected circumstance.  Likewise, they were fully aware of the Country’s debt situation long before they took the oath of office.   The Prime Minister and his Cabinet knew about the Super Bond just as they knew that the price per barrel for crude oil would fall below US$100 per barrel.  These were not disasters or occurrences that came in the quiet of the night.

People elect governments to move forward, to bring progress to a nation, not to look back.  Over the past two years the UDP has been so busy looking back that they are yet to make even the slightest forward motion.  In the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment they virtually shut down the Lands Department and went on a mission to find prominent PUP supporters and suspected supporters and sought ways to cancel their lands. There is no progress in taking what little people already have.   In the Ministry of Education they actually singled out school wardens who were suspected PUP’s so that they could fire them.   Everything that has been done so far in this Barrow Administration is motivated by finding a way to look into the past.

Of late even the Prime Minister’s speeches have resonated with more bitterness than optimism.

It comes as no surprise that in just two years, Belizeans are now starting to have doubts that this administration will ever get their act together.  People expect to see progress even if it comes in small doses.

Two years have gone by since the United Democratic Party got elected into government and so far this administration has yet to get its domestic agenda going.  Its reforms have not resulted in any benefits for the people.  In the mean time the Prime Minister and his Cabinet seem to be picking a fight with everyone.   They have insulted the legal community, pissed off the environmental community, picked unnecessary fights with those in the real estate business, upset the unions, insulted the media and fought with the utility companies.

And while all this is going on, no one seems capable of getting a hand around the crime situation, the prosecution branch is poorly staffed and equipped; our reputation as responsible stewards of our environment is eroding, our justice system is breaking down and our communities are falling apart.

The Prime Minister and his government have had two years to get their agenda off and moving.  They were elected on 21 pledges; among those pledges were 5,000 new jobs, a feeding programme in our elementary schools, safer streets and communities, greater openness and transparency.

Belizeans are smart people, they know that this is the crucial year for this administration, they are fully aware that 2012 is a big election year.  If Mr. Barrow and his team cannot start to move this nation forward now, there is no confidence that he will be able to make it happen anytime soon.

The tough reality is that the man in charge has already said to all and sundry, things are about to get even tougher.  No wonder Belizeans are now taking to the streets, they expect their elected representatives to govern and when they fail this early in the term, they get to stepping.

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