Representation is a fairly straight forward concept. Wikipedia describes representation in the following manner: “In politics, representation describes how some individuals stand in for others or a group of others, for a certain time period. Representation usually refers to representative democracies, where elected officials nominally speak for their constituents in the legislature. Generally, only citizens are granted representation in the government in the form of voting rights; however, some democracies have extended this right further.” In democracies such as ours in Belize that extension refers to the daily running of the constituencies. When a Politician comes to the electorate for their vote he does so based on a manifesto which is a contract with the people that he is obligated to fulfill. When elected he becomes their representative and is expected to represent them and keep his manifesto promises.
In Belize we have the Representation by area system which is described by Wikipedia as: “The principle of rep-by-pop, when brought in and promoted publicly, removed many archaic seats in the British House of Commons although some northern and rural counties necessarily still have variably lower populations than most urban ridings. Former British colonies like Canada and Australia also have rural and wilderness areas spanning tens of thousands of square miles; with fewer voters in them than a tiny urban-core riding. The population imbalance between largely rural areas and overwhelmingly urban areas is one reason why the realities of representation by area still have sway against the ideal of representation by population.”
Politicians who chose to represent an area must take all of the above factors into consideration when running in a particular area. Now this entire preamble was to bring to the fore the shortcomings of one particular Representative – Marco “Fool You” Mendez. Mr. Fool You decided in 2012 to throw in his hat for the race to represent the constituency known as Orange Walk East. While this is not one of the largest areas in Belize, it’s comprised of a part of Orange Walk Town known as Louisiana Area and several villages namely: Santa Martha, Carmelita, Tower Hill, Nuevo San Juan, and Chan Pine Ridge.The core of voters is found in the urban area, that is, Orange Walk Town and the rest is over the scattered villages which pose logistical challenges for representatives. The man known as Marco “Fool You” campaigned on empty rhetoric and managed to fool these people into voting for him.
Well you can imagine what a disappointment he has been to the people of the Orange Walk East Area. While he did not surprise anyone with his incapacity to represent the people whom he promised to serve, he was at least expected to be visible in the area. Even that he is incapable of doing.
For quite some time now the good people of Santa Marta village were clamoring for repairs to be done to the road that leads to their village. A culvert had collapsed and they were having problems getting out of the village. The farmers that use the road daily had tried in so many ways to contact their area representative but, you guessed it, he was nowhere to be found.
Enter Elodio Aragon Jr. He is a dynamic young politician who has decided to serve the people of Orange Walk East. He is the United Democratic Party’s Standard bearer for that area and in a mere six months has demonstrated that he is by far a superior candidate for representative than the “Fool You” he. Mr. Aragon heard the cry of the people of Santa Marta and went to their rescue installing the much needed culvert thereby alleviating much suffering by the people. Much work is being done in this area by Mr. Aragon who is using his resourcefulness to deliver services. He does not sit around and cry like Mr. “Fool You” Mendez who makes excuses for not being able to keep his manifesto contract with the people. Shame on you Marco “Fool You” Mendez; let’s see what promise you will bring to the people when elections come around. By then Mr. Aragon would have done all the work that you should have done.
