Shyne Barrow Says the Executive Abused Its Powers

We asked the Leader of the Opposition to explain his reason for boycotting today’s House Meeting. He said that if the Opposition had attended the session, it would not have sent the message that they wanted to send. He also shared with the media his concerns over a couple of the bills.

 

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of Opposition

“When you see that the Speaker has allowed the Executive to abuse the rights, the duty, and the privileges that the Opposition members enjoy in the House, this boycott of today’s Sitting arose as we have disclosed to the media by way of the house deviating from established protocol which gives a seven-day notice, five clear days, five business days but seven days from the Sitting is when the Speaker would notify all members. The Prime Minister is the minister in charge of parliamentary affairs, and he is well aware of the established protocol and this contemptuous behaviour will not be tolerated by the Opposition. Why is it important that we get seven days’ notice five clear days because of Standing Order? 19 (3) Standing order 19 (3) requires that in order to questions to ministers you must give them five clear days’ notice. So, by giving us three days’ notice of a host meeting, you abrogate the privileges of the members in a very, crucial tool that we have for oversight that we have for representing.”

 

Marion Ali

“You are known, Leader of the Opposition, to present vehemently or argue strongly against presentations that are made during the host proceedings. Your absence, your entire Opposition’s absence does not give you that opportunity to stand up and to debate or to make a point today.”

 

Moses “Shyne” Barrow

“We will make that point right now. That is why we have the media. With the bills that are being passed today, let’s start with the motions. We have the loan motions that amount to $48 million Belize. That adds to the already $1.45 billion. And we have a government that decried. The debts that the U.D.P. amassed in a 13-year period and now in one term they have amassed more debt than the U.D.P., more loans than any government ever in their first term. And what they have done is a very clever manoeuvre, whereas they present these loan motions under captions that one would be hard-pressed to disagree with. But then the learned members of the Opposition and the public, you look closely and you scrutinize it and that there is no transparency and there is no accountability. You have with the urban development, for instance, and all of the loan motions that they have presented, there is never a pathway to accessibility, which allows for corruption and abuse because the $1.5 billion that this government has amassed in loans that the taxpayers have to pay back, it is not the P.U.P. taxpayers that will have to pay it back. It is all taxpayers, but what we see is a lack of transparency that allows for corruption and abuse of the process, whereas you have, for instance, in Toledo East, you have the, one of the candidates, Dr. Osmond Martinez telling you that Toledo East is still in the dark ages, and Toledo East is one of the worst constituencies in a deplorable state. Yet we have come into this honorable House and pass loan motions for rural development, rural funding to help.”