Minister Usher Says PCC Report is Right on Track

The People’s Constitution Commission (PCC) is set to submit its final report with recommendations for constitutional reform by mid-November. The report, crafted by a diverse set of stakeholders, is based on a series of public consultations held across the country. However, the commission faced several hurdles during the process, including internal conflicts, time constraints, and financial shortages. News Five spoke with Minister of Constitutional Reform, Henry Charles Usher, to find out how these challenges impacted the commission’s work and the quality of its final recommendations.

 

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Constitutional & Political Reform

“The budget that they had presented was the budget that was approved, so I’m not sure where you got that information from they had requested an extension, the initial legislation, or the legislation called for a period of eighteen months, starting from November of 2022, so it should have been completed March of 2024, but they did request an extension to the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister granted that extension up until November of 2024, in terms of additional budget, they did request an additional budget for that extension and that was also approved. I believe that they’re wrapping up now. I think the next step is for a draft to go to the stakeholders, as you would recall, there are twenty-three or so stakeholders that make up the commission. So now that they have consulted with the Belizean people, they have put all of that in summary form. It now goes back to the stakeholders for their input, and then we expect a final report very soon.”