“A budget of lies and deception”, Leader of the Opposition

Parliamentarians will spend the next three days inside the National Assembly debating the Draft Estimate Budget and Revenue for 2024/2025. Prime Minister Briceño introduced the budget during a House Meeting two weeks ago. As is customary, the Leader of the Opposition, Moses “Shyne” Barrow was the first to contribute to the budget debate. In his forty-five-minute address, Barrow touched on various issues in education, health, finance and other areas. And, as was expected, he began by denouncing the Briceño administration’s budget, referring to it as a budget of lies and deception.

 

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“Madam Speaker, a budget of lies and deception that fails to meaningfully address the needs and aspirations of the Belizean people is the accurate description of this stay off track presentation of the draft estimate budget and revenue 2024 made by the prime minister and his government. This is not a budget that makes th4 necessary investments, short medium and long terms change our nation needs for the better. This budget will not increase economic growth, it will not safeguard the health and security of our country for generation to come. This government has not put forward a budget that will ease the devastation of inflation; nothing outlined in this budget adequately alleviates poverty and strengthens the guardrails that protect the working class form being driven pass the margins. This budget is tone deaf like the prime minister that presents it, disconnected is how you can only describe the presentation by a lame duck prime minister who has already checked out mentally and emotionally. This is a hallow budget that does not present any vision, no bold courageous policy decision and no numbers to support all of the lofty promises made by this government and I will say this, in 1993 the Right Honorable Said Musa won all the municipalities and called early elections and Sr. Manuel Esquivel trashed him. So I say to you Prime Minister, call the elections. You think that you are doing so well and your budgets and policies are doing well, call the elections.”