Amendment 7 of Belize’s Constitution clarifies the rights of Belizeans who hold dual citizenship. For sometime now there have been appeals for its review in order to confer full citizenship rights to Belizean-born citizens who possess dual nationality. In other words, if reviewed, this group of Belizeans would be able to participate fully in Belize’s political process by voting, standing in elections, and holding political office. They cannot do this, as of today, unless they renounce their other citizenship. Belize’s population is approximately one third of a million people, and it is known that more than one half of this figure live and work abroad. It is called Diasporan Belize. Most Diasporan Belizeans have dual nationality, and they, more than any other group, want the 7th Amendment to be revisited. In fact, it was in response to the demands of Diasporan Americans, that the U.S. many years ago allowed this category of its citizens the right to participate in American politics, even while abroad.

There are three reasons why the 7th Amendment to Belize’s Constitution may not be revised by the Barrow administration, or that of the P.U.P. when it returns to power. First, the financial cost will be high, and Belize has no money. Second, the pressure on Belize’s human and institutional capacities to allow for voting outside of the country will be enormous; and these are severely limited. Third, and most significant, the political will is largely absent.

It is fairly obvious that the Belizean Diaspora is deliberately misunderstood, undervalued, disrespected, and thus kept “in its place” – out and away from Belize. Indeed, among the blind at court, the one-eyed reigns as king. So, specious and stupid reasons such as divided loyalty, lack of commitment and national security risk are bandied around to keep this group of Belizeans at bay. Unfortunately, Belize is out of step with the times and the rest of the world. These days, almost every nation regards its Diaspora as a force for national unity, integration and transformation. Initially, what began as a brain-drain is now transmuted to a brain-gain. Diasporan communities and individuals tend to remit both economic and social capital   –   the latter being expertise, knowledge and experience in almost every field of endeavour known to man, which is transferred  from the host nation to home. In Nigeria, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, the Minister of Science and Technology and a one-time Governor of the Central Bank, are all Diasporan Nigerians. And, the U.N. has the development programme, TOKTEN, or Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Networks, in which Diasporan nationals with highly rated skills are actively encouraged to return home to serve their governments.

What is the make-up of Belize’s Diaspora? Demographically it can be found in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., with tiny pockets and individuals in the Caribbean, a couple of Latin American countries and Africa. Based on recent U.S. census figures, the American arm of this Diaspora is about 160,000, and includes 70,000 legal residents and naturalised citizens, who are mostly Creole (Kriol) and Garifuna Belizeans. Generally, those who left Belize went as an educated and professional work force, and as students, while there were others  who had neither skills nor prospects in Belize. Most of these first generation emigrants are now in their 60s, 70s and 80s; and one may be tempted to assume that because of age, national regeneration cannot emanate from this group. Still, it is instructive to remember that Galileo produced his most definitive work: “Dialogue Concerning the New Sciences” at 74; Grand Ma Moses did not paint until she was almost 80; Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Guggenheim Museum at 91; and, Mohatma Gandhi completed successful negotiations with the British at the age of 72! So, this group needs to be reckoned with on Belize’s road to national regeneration. 

This sector of our Diaspora, more often than not, experience the well known Diasporan dilemma of: Is it “here” or over “there”? This, clearly, is the constant shifting of the sense of self. A number of them may never return to live in Belize, or on return become so disillusioned that they may restrict themselves to flitting between “here” and “there”. The most intrepid will stubbornly remain and create their own oases. However, there is another group – the children and grandchildren of the first generation emigrants. If Belize were to creatively reach out to embrace them and encourage them to remit their skills, since a good number are not only highly educated, but are talented and have broad experiences; though perhaps with a diluted consciousness of Belize as “home”  –  our nation will be the richer for it.

Belize needs to create an enabling environment politically and socially to allow Belizeans, wherever they may be, to participate and claim their stake in Belize. And, the first place to begin is to summon the political will to revisit the 7th Amendment. Our tiny nation-state cannot afford to irrevocably lose its Diaspora by playing mind games and shutting it out. Those Belizeans who emigrated to America can testify that the U.S. is not a country for the weak. It is brutal if you are poor, old, sick or uneducated, and even worse, a combination of all four. Before achieving the “American Dream” they had to survive the “American Nightmare”. Belize requires all those who succeeded in the challenging and often vulnerable situations that Diasporan existence brings, to assist in building a New Belize; whether as service providers, consultants, or entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized enterprises which will create jobs.

But, do we have a directory of Belize Abroad and a data base of their skills, proficiences and ability to contribute, no matter how small? Are we fully aware of the contributions of our various Diasporan citizens to their host nations over the years and even today?  Do we know what efforts they made both individually and collectively to Belize’s development in the past and present? Such contributions include personal or community investments, scholarships, books, computers, medical, humanitarian, educational and legal assistance, projects implemented at individual or organisational levels, the establishment of NGOs, as well as enlightenment, information, cultural  and awareness interventions. Is there a new position to engage our Diaspora, to embark on a comprehensive programme to create, foster and adopt a pro-Belize mentality, attitude and future? Second, third and even fourth generation Belizeans, like the Jewish people do, must be regarded and treated exactly the same as “born Belizeans”. Again, the place to start is with a thorough review of the 7th Amendment of our Constitution.

The review not only requires a profoundly patriotic and pragmatic definition of who can be a Belizean, but there is need to qualify exactly who is entitled to vote and can be voted for, can hold public office, and at which level and kind, based on this definition. In the U.S., which we are adept at mimicking, Henry Kissinger can never run for the presidency because he is a German-Jewish immigrant. It does not matter whether the only passport he retains is American. However, while a second generation Belizean child, born to “born Belizean” parents in the Diaspora, who has a second nationality by virtue of his birth abroad, is ineligible to run for the office of Prime Minister of Belize   – a child born in Belize to Guatemalan or Taiwanese parents, who are naturalised Belizeans, is qualified to become our Prime Minister one day, if he so decides and wins his election.

Belize is in dire need of a make-over: a new face, body, clothes and psyche. All this sordid business of Belizeans   –  all of whom had and have just the Belizean passport   –   desperately selling the family silver: Belize’s land and cayes for “peanuts”, the barefaced looting of the national treasury, privatising, outsourcing and pillaging  vital national assets, industries, natural resources and services to foreign and parasitic local interests, “paper-back” Belizeans, relatives, cronies and stooges; and prostituting the Belizean passport in the international market to known criminals, fugitives and other disreputable characters, to such an extent, that sooner than later, our passport will become so useless that we will not be able to use it to even enter a zoo! Yes, all this must stop. After all, everything that has a beginning, must have an end. Every fat fowl has its Sunday!

Our two largest political parties are generally riddled with people whose technical and professional skills, as well as moral compass, are largely suspect. “No rearrangement of bad eggs can ever make a good omelette”, C.S. Lewis warns. Just think of our many miss-steps, one of which is the need for the vulnerable nation of Taiwan, which hardly any nation “recognises” ( which China regards as a renegade province and is biding its time before re-taking) to balance our budget, and play “Big Brother” to us in almost every respect. Indeed, I no longer fear a Guatemalan take-over, because our Nemesis may well come from a source we least expect, when it’s search for a new home becomes manifest. History and politics demonstrate that a President or a Prime Minister is similar to a king. The king is most often a prisoner of his inner court – the ministers, mistresses, advisers, courtiers, aides, paladins, jesters and palace guards. Therefore, it is for him to rise above them all, and distil from the cacophony around, a singular message that will lead towards a legacy of greatness.

When Belize in 1958, under the P.U.P., resisted joining the West Indian Federation, it was an act of pure racism. The people of the largely Black-African, Protestant, English-speaking Caribbean countries, had a history, culture and colonial experience fairly similar to those of the dominant Creole population in Belize at the time. In fact, the West African ancestors of the Creoles were mainly third and fourth generation slaves from Jamaica etc; which partly explains why Belize’s Creoles have such few African survivals vis-a-vis the rest of the Caribbean, as against the Garifuna who have so many. Notwithstanding, to the P.U.P. and the Catholic Church of 1958, these West Indians, on their overcrowded little islands, had to be kept out of Belize, by any means necessary. 
Less than three decades later, and under the same P.U.P., Belize warmly acquiesced to the U.S. initiative of the Reagan Administration  –  the same administration which invaded Grenada   –   when it permitted thousands of mainly illiterate, Spanish-speaking, Catholic, mestizo immigrants from the war-torn nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and even Nicaragua, to settle in Belize. Republican Reagan, despite his support for the Contras, various arms deals, etc. etc., did not want any more mestizos or Latinos in his United States of A. Then, in 1993, under the U.D.P. Esquivel Government of Belize, 40,000 more mestizos from Guatemala and El Salvador were summarily injected into our population. By these singular acts, the demography of Belize was immediately, and possibly, irrevocably changed, with mestizos, mostly new arrivals, comprising half of our population, with the once dominant Creole (Kriol) making up less than one quarter. This, was no accident.

Small nations, with a sense of history, identity and sensitive to regional permutations, and international power-plays, like Israel, which is about the size of Belize, fiercely regard their people as their most precious natural resource and asset. See how 159 Palestinian prisoners can be exchanged for one Jew! And Israel can bombard the Gaza Strip with American arms for weeks, to the extent of almost obliterating it, and oblivious to international opinion, because of the murder of one Jewish teenager. Hence, the question of nationality, voting rights, the requirements for public office, and the fact that military service is compulsory for all Jewish citizens, (though this excludes Israeli-Arabs!) are non-negotiable and never to be trifled with. To become a citizen of the State of Israel is not an all-comers affair; and not  for every Tom, Delores and Heng.

Since every Diasporan community make meaningful contributions to the development of their original home country, through economic and social investments, despite the fact that some are far richer or more successful than others, it is only fair that they are allowed to be fully integrated into the political process at home. This not only augments their sense of still belonging, but it guarantees their continued interest to assist in implementing the national agenda. This has been the case as far back as the days of the Roman Empire, when Roman citizens, in the far flung reaches of the newly established colonies, voted for candidates to city offices in Rome. This was in the reign of Augustus, circa 62 BC to 14 AD. The votes of these citizens were sent under seal to Rome for the day of the elections.

Nearly all the world’s developed nations allow their Diasporan citizens to participate in the political process at home. There are 115 countries and territories which practise this, with 41 in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, 20 in Asia, 16 in the Americas and 28 in Africa. While some Diasporan votes do affect election outcomes, as was the case recently in the Dominican Republic, this was less so in Mexico and Venezuela. At times, Diasporan voters can improve the fortunes of the ruling party, or those of the Opposition, as the case may be. There are four voting methods and options generally adopted. There are 79 countries which allow voting to be done in person, with the remainder using the post, fax, and the internet, or permitting voting by proxy.

In the end  –  what is home?  Home can be tangible, as well as permanently elusive! I still recall the reply a defendant gave my husband many, many years ago, when he was asked where he lived during a San Pedro court hearing, on an occasion my husband presided. “Where do you live”? “I don’t live anywhere”, was the reply. “Then, where do you sleep”? “I sleep wherever night catches me”, was the final answer. My favourite definition of home, as against “wherever night catches me”,  is: ” A safe place where one is free from attack, where one experiences secure relationships and affirmation . . . where relationships are nurturing. The people in it do not need to be perfect, but honest, supportive, recognising a common humanity that makes all of us vulnerable”. And, while blood may make us related, it is only loyalty which makes us family. It seems to me from all this, that a genuine Belizean is that person whose feeling for Belize is borne out of love, possibly memory, concern for and loyalty to Belize, irrespective of where such a person lives, and how many passports s(he) holds. Love for Belize over-rides family, ethnic ties and religion: because the interest of our nation-state, and its people, are not only paramount, but supersedes every other. It is obvious, no passport alone can ever imbue any individual with this.

* Therese Belisle Nweke lives in Lagos, Nigeria

During the years of 1999-2001,I worked at the Prosecution department as a Civilian Prosecutor (most attorneys in the United States listen in noticeable disbelief when I tell them what I did). At that time, the department of Public Prosecution was under the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) but closely merged with the Police Department. I was one of five civilian prosecutors hired to create a separation, so that the police who arrested were not prosecuting their own matters. We were public servants that reported to the office of the DPP but worked in the same office with the police department. For those who don’t understand yet- In Belize, the police officers arrest and prosecute their own cases at the magistrate (lower court) level. Most of the magistrates and the police back then did not have formal legal training.

I grew up in Belmopan during the years of 1974 thru 1993. Belmopan for the most part was a public servants’ community co-existing with a Central American immigrant community. Both my parents were high-level public servants in Police and Immigration. They were very private and highly professional individuals. My mom and dad, like most public servants in their era, did not openly discuss politics. It was one of those constitutional rules about being a public servant that they followed and took seriously. I was privy however to their times of frustration when they shared their experiences with each other and their limitations as public servants. I have heard them express frustration with some of their political leaders who blatantly disregard the law. At the time it was an abstract concept for me.

Both my parents are now passed on but left a deep sense of love for Belize, a belief in justice and professionalism. I am digressing a bit, but I feel that I must say this. My mother is described by many of her colleagues as a sweet person who was very professional. Many see me as a polar opposite to her personality with a striking resemblance to her. What people don’t realize is that my mother created this fight in me.   She said things that resonated with me in my years at the prosecution department. “Never allow anyone to destroy your reputation by engaging in anything fraudulent.” The first time you compromise yourself, you will forever have to compromise yourself for the next person and the next”. In the public service, be sure to always CYA, if anyone ask to do something that you know is wrong, ask them to put it in writing and look at them go away.”

In 1999, I left the private sector and decided to enter the public service. I was very excited about my new position. It was a very powerful position to be in when I think back. Not powerful because of money or status, but powerful because people’s lives were essentially in my hands. The job was one that gave me quite a bit of discretion and access to the people’s tumultuous lives. Thinking back, it should never have been a position I was ever in. On average I was prosecuting close to five cases per day. In comparison that was the amount of cases a trained crown counsel was prosecuting in the Supreme Court per session.   The Supreme Court criminal offenses were more egregious in result but the bases for establishing evidence and prosecuting are fundamentally the same.

At the time I was a junior college graduate with two years of paralegal training and about six weeks of law enforcement training and maybe another few weeks of training with customs and immigration. Most of the training was on the job, which translates into – quite a few people never saw justice because I was picking it up as I went along. The Chief Magistrate at the time and a few attorneys would sit with us after a case and explain what needed to be done to establish evidence and tips to improve case presentation.

Quite a number of the case files from the police were poorly constructed and missing major elements to establish evidence, sometimes, even a crime.   As prosecutors we had to research laws and interview witnesses to establish the foundation for the criminal charge. When the cases completely lacked evidence, we would take it to the DPP office for further review and withdrawal.

Many times the same defendants would lean on us because they could not afford competent legal advice and we were as close as they could get. I recall one young man. I don’t recall his name. He was regular at the court. He was arrested for possession of weed and he was the only one that police caught when the crowd dispersed running in different directions. He promised to bring witnesses that would prove he did not have any weed, but not one witness showed up for his defense. His elderly mother did show up however, taking time off from work and taking her hard earned money to pay his fines. His mother expressed frustration to me- her only son was always in trouble and even though she never said this, was a financial strain on the family. A co-prosecutor and myself sat and talked to the young man who started off with “the police deh chancey”. I explained to him that his environment and the places he chose to hang out were hot spots for police raids, so why was he there? I exposed him to the reality that not one “friend” showed up in his time of need, except the mother he kept disrespecting. He sat and listened quietly…during the rest of my time there, I never saw him again and hope it resonated with him.

I became quite proficient at my job. I reviewed my case files, took work home, drove to the crime scenes to get a visual perspective of the area. I read up on cases and looked to the commonwealth countries for rulings and scenarios similar to the cases I was dealing with. I successfully prosecuted defendants even ones who had hired attorneys. It was an idealistic time in my life because I felt I was contributing positively, interacting with people and influencing change…and then my idealism bubble popped.

In 2000(circa), I was handed a case file that involved a number of young men (kids really) who got into a fight where two were stabbed. I believe it was a graduation party night. The young men in this case were a number of kids from the “elite” well-connected population of Belize. One of kids was a prominent politician’s son who was identified as being part of the fighting group. The story made headlines in Belize and lucky me, the case file landed on my desk. I objected. I believed that trained attorneys should handle high profile cases; however it seemed that no one wanted it. I read through the case file and realized that the only arrested person in the entire brawl was an underprivileged kid whose name was never called anywhere in any of the witness report except to say that he was physically part of the group. Back then, it was a well-known secret that many privileged kids rode around fearless because they had daddy’s money, status and some “bad” kid from the hood they paid for protection.

After reading this case file, I realized that there was absolutely no evidence to convict the kid who was arrested. It was a brawl, and the victim that got stabbed was suffering from amnesia. (I was informed the families had already worked it out) It boggled my mind that they even arrested the defendant. In my naiveté, I went to the Office of the DPP to ask him to withdraw the matter because there was no evidence to convict. He gave me some babble about the high level nature of the case, and let the magistrate dismiss it. It made no sense to me- why allow this young man to go through the justice system if it was clear as day that we were wasting time, not to mention, it was unethical and unconstitutional. Frustrated I went to the police head of prosecution and again raised the issue that there was no evidence to convict and he told me that due to the media attention on the case, they did not want to seem that they were involved in a cover up, so just take it to the magistrate to dismiss.   I was flabbergasted. Was I going to be part of this charade?

I was further instructed that I was not suppose to summon the golden child to court as one of the witnesses. In my mind, I was thinking- you are going to take an innocent man to court for a political cover up, but we are not going to examine the testimony of all who were involved? Not under my watch. I told the orderly to summon every witness in the file. The orderly reported that when the golden child was summoned, he rudely told the police “do you know who I am” and the police told him “yes, and if you don’t show up, I will arrest you for contempt”. My head began to pound as I sat back anticipating …

Once everyone was summoned, I started to get calls from witnesses claiming they would be out of the country, or they would be unavailable for the court date. I explained to them the repercussions of ignoring a court summons. On the morning of the said hearing date, our office cleaner that normally showed up at work at 8:00 am to use our phones until 3:00 pm -when her work actually started -tied up our phone line with her normal morning misuse of the government phone. I got a call in my supervisor’s office telling me that the Attorney General was trying to reach me on the phone, but the phones were tied up. I then received a personal visit from the clerk of court telling me that the Solicitor General was trying to reach me. In mock disbelief, I asked- why?

I was then called to a meeting where the Attorney General, Chief Magistrate, the Magistrate hearing the matter, and myself were present. They asked me what was the problem with the case. I told them, as I told the DPP, that there was no evidence linking the accused to the stabbing. They questioned the ethics of the police arresting this young man and at that very moment I realized that these men thought I was a complete idiot. I also realized that the justice system, was contaminated and justice was not blind and not protected. At the end of the meeting, it was concluded that no witness was going to show up. The police was to call every witness name three times, saved for the golden child, and the magistrate would dismiss the case.

I told the police to call the entire witness list, including the golden child. The police I believe delighted in my rebellious nature. He called every witness name three times, no one answered and the matter was dismissed That defendant probably don’t even know how his fate was decided before any evidence was ever presented. That was delivering justice. I am sure there are hundreds of public servants who are witnesses to similar abuse in the system.

On the same date, instead of heading directly back to my office, I went to the Canadian consulate looking for college applications and also applied to the University of South Florida the same night. It was the first time I got a sense of how corrupted the system was. I also predicted that as they misapplied justice and abused it, the system would become progressively worse.

I got accepted to York University in Toronto and the University of South Florida. The US was far more accommodating than the Canadian Consulate. I started school in 2001 to pursue a BA in Political Science …

See: http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/22138