If and when this amendment passes in the House of Representatives, it will then go to the Senate, where Civil Society is already sounding the alarm against what they see as a "piecemeal approach".
All 4 Social partner senators representing the trade unions, the NGO community, the business community, and the Church, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister a week ago to voice their concerns about the 10th Amendment. We'll share that with you shortly, but we report first on their views on these proposed amendments to the constitution, which have come from the Briceno Government. They think that the time has come to take a comprehensive look at the entire constitution and modernize it as a whole, instead of "tinkering" with specific parts one at a time.
In their letter, the senators say, quote, "Such a piecemeal approach to amending the Constitution is not advisable because it is not based on a thorough and carefully considered review process…
We strongly recommend that the Government appoint a Constitutional Assembly that would be broad-based in representation. The Constitutional Assembly would be charged with a comprehensive review of our Constitution, and drafting a modern Constitution for Belize over a 2-year period." End quote.
This evening, we spoke via Zoom with Osmany Salas, the Senator representing Belize's Network of NGOs. Here's what he had to say about the 3 rapid-fire amendment bills from the new Government:
