Less than a month away from Municipal Elections, the Elections and Boundaries Department held a meeting today inviting all parties, movements, and independent candidates. The purpose is to ensure that all those contesting the elections are aware of the protocols in place. Minister Henry Charles Usher was one of the members representing the PUP, and we spoke to him about the importance of this meeting.
Cordel Hyde, Minister of Natural Resources
"We absolutely need that in this country. It's one of the great tragedies of our democracy, that we don't have campaign finance legislation in place. It's just the wild, wild west. There's no rules that govern that."
"And it's very core, like that is a big problem for ordinary people, for roots Belizeans because ultimately the people who finance political campaigns, they want to demand their pound of flesh thereafter, right? And so the people of Belize, we have to figure out the way how the people of Belize finance these campaigns ourselves."
"I don't have the answer in terms of what the blueprint will look like. That will have to go through a lot more discussion. We've started that already in government. I believe we are getting regional advice on it, international advice to try to ensure that we have a model that will work."
"And government is absolutely committed to it, but it's about getting a blueprint that everybody can agree to. Because we have to, or else we'll continue to have problems in this country, continue to have a situation where certain cronies get everything and certain cronies want everything and certain cronies enslave the government, successive governments over time."
"That has to change. And so this government has to take on that animal."
