Senate Sitting Abruptly Cancelled, Questions Raised Over Virtual Meeting Plans

Tonight, there is uncertainty surrounding the Senate after tomorrow’s scheduled meeting was abruptly cancelled, with no official reason or public notice issued.  The Upper House had been expected to convene virtually via teleconference platform, the second such arrangement in just over a month, despite the recent completion and inauguration of the fully refurbished National Assembly building.  Reports had indicated that Senate President Carolyn Trench Sandiford and Leader of Government Business Eamon Courtenay agreed to proceed with a short virtual sitting to address a backlog of approximately ten bills, leaving heavier legislation for a later full meeting.  However, the sudden cancellation has raised fresh questions, particularly among the independent senators who had already been expressing concern about the continued reliance on virtual sittings. The Senate’s standing orders allow electronic meetings primarily under circumstances involving public health, public safety, national security, or a public emergency.  Senator for the Churches, Louis Wade Junior, told Love News he is unaware of the reason behind the cancellation and says he remains puzzled as to why the meeting was being called virtually so soon after the National Assembly refurbishment.

Louis Wade, Churches Senator: “I do not know why tomorrow’s senate meeting was canceled but neither do I know why they wanted it as a virtual meeting in the first place. Virtual meetings are for national emergencies, and such contingencies. So essentially I live in Belmopan, the National Assembly is just a stone’s throw from where I am. The nation of Belize spent over five million dollars to get it prepared to the standard that it is right now. I cold understand why the first meeting was held virtually, they wanted to test out the system and I think it works well for national emergencies but not for regular meetings. And it’s interesting because my colleagues felt exactly the same way. They were already scheduled to be in Belmopan, I’m in Belmopan and so we said okay why not request from the clerk of the National Assemble the opportunity to use the chambers and it was granted so we were glad that we could be together at the chamber. We would still be streaming individually but it would have been the appropriate place for us. That request was granted and so we were preparing for tomorrow’s meeting when we heard today that it has been cancelled. We are puzzled at this time. I hope there is some other contingency why the meeting was canceled. We have not been told but hopefully as time goes by we will be informed as to why. Independent senators did not request a hybrid meeting I don’t know who came up with the word hybrid. Clearly the clerk of the National Assembly approved what we requested so who canceled it ?”

At this time, no official explanation has been provided for the cancellation. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as more information becomes available.