Was PM’s Address “Safe, Superficial and Lacking Depth?”

Barrow was also asked for his thoughts on Prime Minister John Briceño’s twenty-minute State of the Nation address. He described it as safe, superficial and lacking depth. Here is what he told reporters.

 

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“I think his speech was quintessential John Briceno, thirty years status quo, safe, light, you know, superficial, nothing in depth, nothing groundbreaking. Again, when you talk about the tax, raising the threshold, what he needs to talk about is tax compliance. What he needs to talk about is collecting taxes from all of those people that are evading taxes, talking about million-dollar corporations. What they need to do is talk about the tax disparity, where, as I said, working class Belizeans are paying twenty-five percent tax, while certain special Belizeans are paying, six percent tax. and three percent. And you have these corporations that are price gouging, that are exploiting Belizean people, evading taxes. That is what we need to look at.”

 

Reporter

“So, I also have to point out the difference between the atmosphere here versus this prime minister’s speech.  You know, he brought out the entire show. He had his CEOs, his ministers, Children from my school, I guess, develop on. Whereas you seem to be out a one-man band today. Yellow man is in the audience. There’s like three people in the audience. You know, we had Mr. Jones and we had Shane. We have people who work here as well as people who are always here. It’s a, it’s a huge disparity, a huge difference.”

Moses “Shyne” Barrow

“Well, it is typical. This is the opposition. He used the government’s tax paying dollars to put on this show. And it is normal for any response of the state of the nation that the opposition gives to be based on substance, not hype. So, I was not interested in putting on a facade and pomp and circumstance.”