BUILDING A BELIZEAN DREAM

Every world citizen has rights and planBelize encased this into a dream package of five deliverables that a People’s United Party government would build Belize around. At the planBelize Midterm Development Strategy(MTDS) launch these five were not a secret. Prime Minister John Briceño in many words gave Education, Healthcare, Jobs, Land and Housing the super-priority not forgetting what the PUP campaigned on. The MTDS proved that planBelize is a living document with a dynamism that allows it to be reviewed and upgraded. We will remember that the meat of planBelize-original was finalized in 2020 smack in the midst of the most fear-filled days of the Covid-19 pandemic. John Briceño and his team were then unrelenting and determined to serve the people. Since November 2020, the PUP has led the Belizean people in braving existential threats from rampant unemployment, unsustainable debt, and dwindling exports all contributing to social decadence revealed to us as a crime. Covid-19 had exposed the stench of UDP corruption and recession as they strangled the Belizean economy. Barrow administration's misfeasance and malfeasance had marinated to nonfeasance and criminal conviction for crimes against constitutional spending. Today, real stories of planBelize’s rapid success can be heard from Toledo to New York, literally around the world. The colossal success of this George Price-inspired 2020 manifesto included Health care system upgrades like a San Pedro Hospital, it included homes for the neediest, envisioned debt restructuring that needed world-class innovation, it laid out the farm-to-table that is now at an international level, and it foresaw that bolstering job opportunities via increased economic activity would put a dent into crime. Now the question this innovative Cabinet had at two years in office, can planBelize possibly be enhanced? A Midterm Development Strategy was forged and launched, 26 months after planBelize, laden with 271 projects and programs. The plan aims to strengthen the building of a nation that is expectant of plenty from a government that succeeded 13 years of decrepitude. The good news is that Belize is ready and the MTDS is a much-needed boost.

The MTDS is a basis for further growth, development and transformation for the next five years. All Belizeans are a part of this progress. The more jobs are available, the more everyone can participate and to this end, the MTDS addresses these: Poverty Reduction, Economic Transformation and Growth, Trade deficit reduction, Citizen Security, Protection of the Environment and Natural Resources and Good Governance. Each of these is oriented to essential human development. This is in stark contrast to the Imer/Infrastructure push the campaign-financing dollars-thirsty UDP got addicted to. Here we have all 18 ministries working towards the same goal with a precision focus on improving the lives of the citizenry. The 15-member Core Working Group and the 10-member Technical Committee all put together the MTDS with a planBelize focus. The level of detail in the Action Agenda is astounding: it includes 271 programs or projects as follows: 31 for poverty reduction, 102 for economic transformation, 35 for trade deficit reduction, 20 for citizen security, 60 for the protection of the environment and natural resources, 23 for no corruption and good governance. There is a definite need for a shift in the level of work within the public sector. This level of heightened work will require more human resources along with higher efficiency in the present workforce.

Of course, the Prime Minister is ultimately responsible for the overall success of this multipronged drive to improve planBelize. Poverty alleviation is actually the upliftment of individuals to perform in grand unison. When unemployment is historically low then the planBelize mantra of everybody fih win is arguably true. So, as the MTDS unfurls into action, Belizeans will truly experience a Belize building everyone’s dream into reality.