Opposition Chastises G.O.B. over Belmopan Hospital Land Acquisition

We also heard from the Leader of the Opposition, Moses “Shyne” Barrow on the government’s decision to acquire fifteen acres of roadside property for the construction of a new hospital in Belmopan. He described it as corrupt and outrageous. Barrow also revealed that the United Democratic Party will be joining a group of civilians that has organized a protest for Friday morning in front of the Prime Minister’s office in Belmopan. Here is what he told us.

 

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“To me, this cannot be described as anything other than corruption. When you look at the fact that the parcels of land that are nearby and these parcels of land are fifteen acres was assessed by the Belmopan City Council at a hundred and sixty-nine thousand for one, because I believe it is fifteen acres and another hundred and add, for a total of three hundred thousand. That was the assessment. I don’t know if that was corruption on the part of the Belmopan City Council so that they could pay less taxes. But that was the going rate. So, to go from three hundred thousand to about seven million is absolutely outrageous. What makes it more outrageous is that you have UB that has eight hundred acres that we would get for free. What makes it even more outrageous is the fact that you have the honorable prime minister who came to the House of Representatives and said that the Saudi Fund gave Belize ninety million dollars in order to build a tertiary level hospital and we are building it on the University of Belize Campus and it will be a teaching facility and this is what was presented to the people of Belize and this is what was passed n parliament. And to come back and say there was a feasibility studies and experts that came and said it wouldn’t make sense, no one is buying that. So to make the investment of seven or eight million in the University of Belize to create the necessary infrastructure so that you can have a hospital there, that would be the proper investment. You are helping the constituency of Belmopan. You are benefiting the students and future students to come. That would be a benefit to Belize, to our national university for generations to come. This would have become a hallmark accomplishment for the Briceno administration. But this just shows how greedy, how glutenous they have become.”