The Belize Coat of Arms - its cluttered design almost resists standardization - all those individual elements, the two woodcutters in a kind 18th century capri pants, their various tools, plus a sailing ship, and a paddle, all surrounded by 25 leaves.
It's a LOT!
And, in the four decades since independence - those many elements have been reproduced thousands of times - with varying degrees of success.
One of the more sketchy reproductions has for years hovered in the headspace at the House of Representatives, that cradle of legislative power crowned with a questionable coat of arms.
And it's been on the mind of sculptor Steven Okeke for decades. He's made many replicas of the coat of arms out of the bonded wood material that has become his trademark. And while those are in wide circulation - he's had his eyes on the National Assembly chamber for decades. His offers to place a properly rendered Coat of Arms there has been rebuffed by politicians all down the line. But it seems he finally found a receptive audience in Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde.
That put things in motion to get his rendering of the Coat installed in the Chamber. It happened today, and he told Plus TV about it:
Okeke says a sponsor paid for the Coat of Armes to be produced and, generous man that he is, he installed it for free.
