TNAG-1001-FCO40-1237-Future-of-the-Dependent-Territories-including--Report-of-the-1981 — Page 83

of Belize appointed a bi-partisan Joint Select Committee comprising members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to consider the proposals in the White Paper and to report thereon. The Committee was charged with the responsibility of canvassing the opinion of the country before making its report.

In the exercise of its functions the Committee sent special invitations to every imaginable organisation throughout Belize down to the village level. It invited views generally, both written and oral. It travelled and held sittings in each District of the country and it compiled eight volumes of submissions from the public. Emerging from this careful collection of public expression, the Committee found a general and overriding acceptance of the form of government proposed in the White Paper. There is a dominating call from the people of Belize for the monarchical form of government based upon the Westminster parliamentary pattern.

It is our intention in the days ahead to table the White Paper together with the amendments proposed in the Report of the Committee which were debated at length in both Houses of the National Assembly and finally approved.

Two circumstances in Belizean life seem to have created some confusion on the proceedings we now begin. Firstly, the role of the minority party in the National Assembly and secondly the recent declaration of a State of Emergency in Belize. Permit me to comment briefly on these circumstances and the significance of these two events.

The Opposition, while it failed to serve on the Joint Select Committee of the National Assembly, took steps to appear before the Committee by a senior official of their political party in each District of the country and made a written presentation in Belize City which the Committee was assured had been approved by their National Executive. It cannot be forgotten that in 1963 the Opposition adopted a similar policy and chose then to remain at home throughout the Constitutional Conference. We too, Mr Chairman, regret that the Opposition is not here and hope that they may yet arrive before this Conference ends. In other words, it is not for the want of opportunity but rather what appears to be a deliberate

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