But the election isn't without its controversy. Many are concerned about Shoman's position as the incoming president because of her history with the Belize Yacht Club, where she was once an employee, and was sued for the misappropriation of over $100,000.
In addition, there are reports that she has proposed some amendments to the BNTU's constitution, including removing the clause that stated that she cannot function in full capacity until the details of her secondment are finalized, and the clause that forbids members who have a police record.
Today, we asked Smith about these reports.
Elena Smith, Outgoing President, BNTU
"We have, as a union, we do review from time to time our constitution and we have been reviewing, we have not gotten to any point where we have approved any suggested amendments to the constitution so what has been suggested so far are just recommendations, those have to go out to membership and then it goes back to the membership for final approval, once the membership would have approved those suggestions, then those suggestions are then inserted and we have a new constitution. So at this point in time, whatever suggestions may have been made by the committee, the council, or any member of the union is at this point of time just recommendations and they have not yet been approved."
Reporter:
"Some people are concerned about Ms Ruth's election given that she has an interesting history involving embezzlement and I believe that it was theft, does this concern you in any way? She also wanted to remove the clause that states that members who have a history, you know, a criminal record or any history with misconduct as a teacher, she wanted to strike out that clause as well. Does this not concern you?"
Elena Smith, Outgoing President, BNTU
"Well, I am not privy to what you are saying in terms of striking out any clause because no one person can make a change to the constitution. You can recommend an amendment but that recommendation has to be approved by the membership."
"And we have a committee that was looking at the suggested amendments to the constitution, it's not just one person, it's a committee that was reviewed. As I said, in the committee, persons have the opportunity to make certain recommendations but those must be approved so they are not final until it is approved."
Courtney Menzies:
"But I think the question is, if it's not concerning the type of amendments she does want to make or that she is recommending, especially considering her past."
Elena Smith, Outgoing President, BNTU
"But I think we are focusing on one person's suggestions or recommendations if that is indeed so because something was mentioned that I'm not aware of, as opposed to focusing on how we get to the end of that so it doesn't matter what a person recommends at the end of the day it is the membership who will determine what that will look like what those changes would be, it's not one person."
