By Horace Palacio:
Let us have the conversation nobody wants to have.
We blame the politicians. We blame the ministries. We blame the business class, the police, the schools, the system.
And plenty of that blame is earned.
People who hold public power carry a weight that ordinary citizens do not. That will never change.
But here is the uncomfortable truth.
A country is not only built in Belmopan. It is built in Orange Walk kitchens, Dangriga classrooms, Belize City street corners and Cayo farm roads. It is built by what we demand, what we tolerate and what we do when nobody is watching.
Democracy does not end when we leave the polling station.
It continues every single day.
So ask yourself honestly. Can we demand accountability from our leaders while treating it as something that only applies to other people?
We cannot.
Start with favouritism.
Every Belizean has complained about it. The job that went to somebody’s cousin. The permit that moved fast because of a phone call. The feeling that who you know matters more than what the rules say.
Now ask the harder question.
How many of us have made that phone call ourselves?
How many of us have looked for a link at the ministry, a friend at the office, a shortcut past the line?
It is easy to hate favouritism when it works against you. The real test is whether you still support fair rules when those rules deny you an advantage.
That is where character lives.
Look at our public spaces.
We want good roads. Clean streets. Parks our children can play in. Schools that are not falling apart.
Fair enough.
But who throws the garbage out the car window? Who watches the vandal and says nothing? Who treats the public park like nobody’s property?
Public property is not nobody’s property.
It is everybody’s property. And when it falls apart, all of us pay.
Look at our schools.
Parents want disciplined, capable, ambitious children. Teachers and government must deliver the tools, the training and the support to make that happen. No excuses.
But a teacher cannot raise a child alone.
Attendance starts at home. Reading starts at home. Respect starts at home. A child learns how much education matters by watching the adults around them.
Look at our economy.
No government programme can build a strong Belize by itself.
The worker who shows up on time builds it. The entrepreneur who delivers what was promised builds it. The employer who treats staff fairly builds it. The customer who rewards good service builds it.
Strong policy matters. So does a culture that values competence, reliability and getting better every day.
And look at how we argue.
Too much of our political talk is noise. Insults instead of ideas. Personalities instead of budgets. Colours instead of results.
Be honest. If your party made a bad decision, would you say so?
If the other side had a good idea, would you admit it?
Democratic maturity means one standard. Red or blue. In office or out. The same rules apply.
Now let me be clear about something.
This is not a sermon blaming ordinary Belizeans for everything.
That would be wrong. And it would be lazy.
Poverty limits choices. Weak institutions put obstacles in front of people trying to do right. Citizens do not write the budget, pass the laws or make the appointments.
A mother in Port Loyola stretching every dollar to feed her children does not carry the same responsibility as an official trusted with millions in public money.
Not even close.
Any honest talk about civic duty has to start there.
The real issue is the relationship between the people and the institutions that govern them.
When citizens demand clear and fair rules, institutions feel the pressure to deliver them.
When institutions deliver reliable services and enforce rules evenly, citizens have good reason to trust and respect them.
Each side shapes the other. Break the cycle on either end and things start to move.
So here are the questions every Belizean should sit with.
Do we respect public property?
Do we teach our children responsibility?
Do we reject favouritism even when it would help us?
Do we demand evidence before we swallow a political claim?
Do we show up for our village councils, our church groups, our community clubs?
Do we ask where public money is going?
Do we hold ourselves to the standard we demand from everybody else?
These questions matter because a nation’s character is not written in a manifesto.
It is written in millions of small, ordinary choices.
Belize cannot keep waiting for the next politician who promises to fix everything.
That saviour is not coming.
And Belize cannot expect citizens to beat every structural problem with willpower alone. That is not fair either.
What we need is leaders who answer for their decisions, institutions that work and a public willing to look honestly at its own habits.
All three. Not one. Not two.
So stop asking only who deserves the blame.
Start asking what you have the power to change.
And then go change it.
The views expressed in this column are those of Horace Palacio and do not necessarily reflect the views of Breaking Belize News.
The post Belize cannot demand better while refusing to look in the mirror appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Horace Palacio: Let us have the conversation nobody wants to have. We blame the politicians. We blame the ministries. We blame the business class, the police, the schools, the system. And plenty of that blame is earned. People who hold public power carry a weight that ordinary citizens do not. That will never change.
The post Belize cannot demand better while refusing to look in the mirror appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
