Belize National Teachers Union president-elect resigns before being sworn in.

An unprecedented has occurred within the Belize National Teachers Union, where the president-elect has resigned from the union before being sworn in. Ruth Shoman issued her resignation yesterday, on the grounds that there are persons within the union that are working at discrediting her, and that the current President, Senator Elena Smith has done nothing. As a matter of fact, the letter says, quote, “certain Council members have been adamant in ensuring that they discredit me and your apparent silence enabled it to escalate which has brought great pain and suffering to my family, especially my children.” End of quote. What was to be a victory for Shoman has turned into a messy situation as the announcement of her resignation has brought on multiple disparaging comments on social media. It is a situation that has been building prior to her being elected. A few days after her win as the next BNTU President, Shoman made an appearance on The Morning Show where she only made reference to the dissention she was facing.

Shoman’s appearance on The Morning Show was three weeks ago, and while she said she was ready to put all that behind her, it seems that it may have turned out to be too much for her to bear. Love News reached out to her for comment, but we got none. Meanwhile, Senator Elena Smith would only confirm the resignation, and said she cannot make any comment on the matter at this time. Smith did say that she would have to wait for the BNTU’s General Counsel to meet. We understand that that meeting is scheduled for tomorrow. In this meeting is where Shoman’s replacement would be discussed. Considering that the situation is unprecedented, it is yet to be determined if there would be a bi-election. According to reports, BNTU did have a regular meeting last Saturday where it was agreed that a general counsel meeting would have to be called to discuss the Shoman saga. At the time, they were not expecting her resignation, but with that new development, an emergency meeting was called. We will follow this story as the days progress.