Dylan Vernon News Today

On 3 April 2024, Prime Minister Briceño, after the massive victory of his party in the March municipal elections, re-instated a minister to Cabinet and also gifted three more People’s United Party (PUP) representatives in the House with the status of ministers of state. The Press Release was tellingly honest in justifying the new appointments: “These adjustments and assignments come on the heels of an overwhelming mandate at the polls.” The result was that all 26 PUP representatives in th...

By Dylan Vernon, Real Story #8, April 15, 2024.In my Fifteen Proposals for a People’s Constitution, I argue that replacing the British monarch as our Head of State must be more than symbolic. Changing nothing else will simply mean that we move from being a parliamentary monarchy to a parliamentary republic with a Belizean figurehead. When the time does come, how can we make it more substantive than just changing figureheads? My proposal for a directly elected national leader (often called a pr...

So, were the people of Belize consulted on the first full draft or any other draft of their own Independence Constitution? Some certainly advocated to be consulted. Given that there were no public consultations on the preparation of the White Paper and given the rushed Joint Select Committee (JSC) consultations, there were reasoned requests in Belize for the people to be consulted on the draft Constitution.  In addition to examining the role of thev people in the final stage of making Belize’...

As one of the citizens who signed the Oceana Belize petition, I welcome the passage of the Bill by the House of Representatives on 13 October 2023 to amend the Referendum Act. When passed by the Senate, the amendment will ensure that Belizeans are consulted by referendum before any move to change or repeal the moratorium placed on offshore oil and natural gas exploration and petroleum operations. Recalling that the original referendum petition called for a constitutional amendment to require a r...

Jul 21, 2021 Constitution House Committee Meets on 10th & 11th Amendments The parliamentary caucus of the United Democratic Party has issued a release on the proposed Tenth and Eleventh Amendments, following a meeting of the Constitution and Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday.  Leader of the Opposition Shyne Barrow, who sits on the committee, reported to his colleagues in the House of Representatives and Senate that the meeting held on July nineteenth was productive.  He reported th...