There's been no shortage of drama coming off of the Briceno administration's first Cabinet shakeup. It effectively "set to one side" the most controversial minister in the land, exiling him to what many consider a lower tier ministry.
It also changed the portfolios of many of his colleagues with Kevin Bernard replacing him as the Minister of Health, Rodwell Ferguson taking over Bernard's position as the Minister of Youth and Sports, and the addition of the E-governance portfolio added to Francis Fonseca's pre-existing responsibilities.
And on the tail end of that press release almost unnoticed was the addition of the religious affairs portfolio granted to Minister of Public Utilities, Henry Charles Usher. Usher said that he, quote, wishes to "merge the public service with the Christian fundamental Christian principles upon which our country is based." End quote.
It's an initiative that's been commended by the National Evangelical Association of Belize in a press release that says quote: "Recognizing that over 73% of Belizeans self-identified with a Christian denomination or Church body in the last Census, and our Constitution clearly invokes the Supremacy of God in affirming that "nations only remain free with the embracing of moral and spiritual values," it is appropriate and fitting for such an initiative to be in place for the betterment for ALL Belizeans." End quote.
And while Usher's remarks have emboldened the Christian Right, it has caused concern among many more liberal leaning groups - with representatives from the National Aids Commission, the Human Rights Commission of Belize, and the National Women's Commission raising serious questions about what the minister's new role could mean for them and the interests they represent.
This evening we heard from the Executive Director of UNIBAM, Caleb Orozco:
Caleb Orozco - Executive Director, UNIBAM
"What scares me is that the government of Belize is saying they don't have money to make significant social investment and they are creating a relationship that is attacking the very little that they are making investments in regards to HIV, with regards to sexual reproductive health services, with regards to the gender policy. It goes against the whole idea that a minister who's responsible for constitutional affairs is going to undermined his constitutional affairs rule by ensuring we've govern my morality and not by the constitution which demands that we treat everybody with equal protection, which speaks to the faith in human rights and the dignity of the person. This minister repeated a right wing slang about the supremacy of god totally ignoring that the supremacy of god speaks to recognition the universal and inalienable rights of people which acknowledges that the rights of people have a higher source other than the state and that it's grounded in the natural dignity of the person. Supremacy of god has nothing to do with religion or any god, so the minister misusing his portfolio and misusing his title is generating the potential for hostile environment that is not conducive to our development and our growth as a country as this time. By ignoring the history of the church erosion and attack of rights of ordinary Belizeans, is he prepared to watch women, specifically continue to be more vulnerable to violence, more vulnerable for what happens over their bodies, is he prepared to watch the consequence of what happens when those rights are eroded for ordinary women."
Cherisse Halsall
"Another specific statement he made is that he will merge the public service with Christian fundamental principles and that's worrying because there may be public officers who are Muslim, they may be LGBTQI public officers, they may be atheist public officers. How concerned should they be?"
Caleb Orozco
"It's very concerning because the public service regulation specifically already alienates quite a few people with regards to areas of these discussions including access to benefits and for him to further alienate the workers who are supporting the delivery of service for government is an front to the sacrifices these people make in the public service and the labor and time they put in to ensuring that government works."
If you want to hear more on Orozco's perspective on the matter you can tune in to see his discussion with our Sunup hosts tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM
