And while he met with Gilges two days ago, today the Prime Minister found himself proudly sitting at the head table of the inaugural ceremony for Belize's new Special Envoy.
It's an honor he and his government have bestowed on his wife, advocate, and educator Rosanna Briceno.
I attended- via zoom- and here's what I found out Briceno's own unique take on the role of the Special Envoy for Families and Children.
There's a new Special Envoy, once again she is the wife of the current Prime Minister, but if if you thought she'd be a lightweight, you'd be wrong:
Hon. Dolores Balderamos-Garcia
"Mrs, Rosanna Briceno will be our special envoy. I don't even have to tell you but I will say it again, she is an accomplished and outstanding professional, she is an educator with a special heart for children with special needs children."
She's also an advocate with a proven track record and this morning as she made her keynote speech at her inaugural ceremony, the new Special Envoy for Families and Children demonstrated that she's already been hard at work outlining her office's core of her objectives.
Rosana Briceno, Special Envoy for families and Children
"We seek to achieve four objectives first to raise awareness of the condition of families and children in Belize with a view to improving the lives of the most underprivileged among us, second to work with government civil society and the private sector to address and meet the families faced by families and children, third to advocate for the improvement of our women and children at home and abroad, fourth to make sure that the plans and obligations for the protection and advancements of families and children that are a part of my husband's agenda and for plan Belize are realized."
"It is my hope that through this office I can use my voice to bring greater priority to the development of our children, of course for this to happen all of us must appreciate and understand the important role that families, all families, play in the development of our nation. I want to help John and his government give the nation our best chance at success and I believe that this can only happen if we recognize the crucial role the family plays in the formation of our children and in the building of productive communities and societies."
And in these times of austerity, her approach will have to be somewhat different from that of her predecessor.
Cherisse Halsall:
"We know that the previous special envoy had certain projects that she carried out being the construction of the Inspiration Center and later the opening of the pediatric ICU unit are there any special projects that will be targeted by you, Special envoy?"
Rosana Briceno, Special Envoy for families and Children
"I have no intentions of starting anything new my goal is to strengthen whatever has been put in place so that continuity is there and of course extend and create allies between the other NGO's so that we can strengthen them all, so that like Minister said there's less redundancy and the resources are used more efficiently and not spread as thinly as what's happening now."
And what does the PM think of his wife's new role? This morning he seemed a little intimidated.
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Listening to her presentation this morning I can see that I will have one more political advocate to deal with, this one around my kitchen table and if I don't listen well I guess It's going to be in the bedroom, so I better listen."
And while she has the PM's ear, Briceno acknowledged that she comes to this role at a difficult time, one in which she'll face many challenges.
Rosana Briceno, Special Envoy for families and Children
"I believe the work to achieve these objectives will require commitment and immediate action, to this end I will put together a team of persons, most of whom are volunteers to start to work on four main projects in 2021. The office of the special envoy for the development of families and children will push the government to identify Covid relief for women who have been adversely affected by this dreadful virus presently scores of women have lost husbands and partners and are grieving without access to appropriate counseling or worse, unaware of how they will take care of their families, more than half of those unemployed over 60,000 are women and many of those are the only providers for their children. We must not let these women suffer alone, we will seek ways to provide assistance and support them and their families my office will also reach out to social partners, civil society, churches, and yes government to make sure that a proper face mask a wearing awareness campaign for children be launched we have to teach our children how to properly wear a mask and to learn the proper hygiene before they return to the classrooms."
The role of the Special Envoy is a voluntary one and as such Briceno will not be receiving a salary.
And this morning the Prime Minister said that in light of that fact Rossana Briceno will also be keeping her day job. Briceno is the Principal of St. Peter's Anglican School in Orange Walk Town and not, as was erroneously reported, the principal of Stella Maris - where she did formerly work as a teacher.
