Commentary: Village council, town board and city council elections in Belize without autonomy and local government reform has no real significance

(MENAFN- Caribbean News Now) Born in Dangriga Town, the cultural capital of Belize, Wellington Ramos has BAs in Political Science and History from Hunter College, NY, and an MA in Urban Studies from Long Island University. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science and History

By Wellington C. Ramos 

From the time the government of Belize passed ordinances for cities, towns and villages, they have done little to grant these local governments autonomy to govern their own jurisdictions and generate money to manage their cities, towns and villages. Most of these municipalities started as villages where the residents of these villages would elect their chairmen and councillors without any laws or involvement from the Belize Central Government (BCG). From there they grew to towns and cities.

As time went by the People's United Party (PUP), which is the oldest political party in Belize, saw the benefits in passing local government laws to bring these municipalities under their control. After the legislation was passed, the minister of local government is vested with the power to deal with all matters regarding villages, towns and cities. The minister can go to cabinet and request a subvention for each village, town and city in the country.

If he or she does not make a request, then that village, town or city would not get any money or benefit for that year. Sometimes it happened for the five or more years that the PUP remained in power.

When the United Democratic Party (UDP) came to power for the first time in 1984, one of Belize's most liked politicians namely, National Hero Philip Goldson was made the minister of Local Government. He made it clear to his government that it was time for them to deal with local government autonomy and reform. Other members of his party did not support him with many of his initiatives and nothing much was done but to further politicize the municipal election process for their party. 

These municipalities are still without autonomy and must depend on subventions from the government. This money that they get if they get it, is far less than the amount of money that is needed to run their municipalities. The last time I saw a subvention it was for my hometown Dangriga in 2006. This subvention was about $40,000 a month when their expenditures just for payroll alone was almost $100,000.00. This does not include projects like, building streets, maintaining the streets, taking out the garbage and other town services that they must provide to their people.

Almost all the municipalities in Belize, the villages, towns and cities are operating with a huge deficit and cannot pay their bills. The property tax laws are not being enforced for these municipalities to generate revenues. In some of these towns and cities, the people that owe the most taxes can pay but the political parties are afraid to go after them because they are large donors to the UDP and PUP so they leave them alone.

Other property owners have died, live in the United States, or at home and do not have the money to pay their taxes. Collecting owed taxes is a major problem for all municipalities.

Another problem in Belize that is still happening today, is when the mayor of a town is not liked by the representative for his municipality. That representative will do everything to undermine the mayor. This includes not requesting a subvention or funds for his village or town. The people in the towns all suffer. This is taking place with the UDP government currently. If the PUP wins the next general election, the same thing will happen.

San Pedro and Belmopan are the only two municipalities that do not have a deficit. San Pedro has a large American population and their residents can pay their sales tax and property taxes. Belmopan is drinking all the milk from Belize because they still have RECONDEV even though hurricane Haiti left Belize in 1961. Plus, the government directly allocates money for them as opposed to the other municipalities. There is an urgent need for a more equitable formula to distribute money to all of our districts and municipalities. Especially, for our southern districts' villages and towns.

The Belize People's Front (BPF) is the only political party in Belize, that has pledged to do something about this situation and they are contesting the next general election. It is clear that for all the years the UDP and PUP have been in power, they are not going to do anything to remedy the situation because they like it the way it is.

This is a serious problem that should have been addressed a long time ago. Looking at the village council elections that are being held, these parties are only using them for political show time. After the elections are completed, the villages will still have their problems to solve. Our villages, towns and cities make up an integral part of our nation and it is our government's responsibility to provide them with the resources to let them manage the affairs of their municipalities.

Failure to act is gross neglect of their constitutional responsibilities.

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