16 FEB
THE BELIZE TIMES
2014
05 5
EDITORIAL BELMOPAN BANDITS
A
hhh, the irony in a name: Belmopan Bandits. It’s almost as though John Saldivar was taking us for cunu munu when he decided to come up with such a name for his football team, rubbing it in our faces and giving us a gentle reminder that the people we have chosen to represent us in Belmopan are, in fact, Bandits. According to the Thesaurus, a Bandit is an outlaw, a crook, a robber, a thief and a thug. How fitting. Was John thinking about his fellow Ministers, Castro and Penner, when he came up with this name? The irony of the whole situation is that last week, the Belmopan Bandits (football team) won the Belikin Cup; and, in the next few weeks the real Belmopan Bandit (Elvin Penner) will, if Dean Barrow has his way, escape the long arms of the law. This week, the Attorneys for the People’s United Party issued a formal demand to the Commissioner of Police to immediately investigate, arrest and charge Elvin Penner for what many Belizeans see as clear and uncontroverted evidence that Penner committed grave criminal acts against our nation. Trained and bush lawyers alike, have weighed in on the evidence, which by all accounts, should be a slam dunk for the DPP if she were to prosecute Penner. Based on her performance on Channel 5’s Open Your Eyes, the DPP actually appeared enthused at the thought of a possible prosecution. But indeed, looks are often times deceiving. Why is it that the DPP ordered her own sep-
arate investigation into the Reynaldo Verde case, where high ranking police officers were said to be protecting Verde, but yet, she has not done the same in the case of Penner? Is it because the Prime Minister has gone on record to say that “no criminal offence was committed by Penner”? In truth and in fact, the Prime Minister does not have legal standing to weigh in on the guilt or innocence of his fellow colleague. That is the job of the police, the DPP, and the judge. But what the Prime Minister should do, if he were serious about stomping out corruption in his government, is to be a witness for the Crown. According to Barrow, he saw with his own eyes, instances of more wrongdoings by Penner at the Immigration Department, which left him with no choice but to rinse Penner from his Cabinet. The truth is, if Barrow does not cooperate with the police, he will go down in history as a knowing accomplice to the worst criminal offence ever committed against our young nation. Barrow’s forecasted failure to cooperate will of course not surprise anyone, since Barrow already has a stellar track record on fighting crime within his government. Who can forget Mark King, who was restored with full Ministerial rank even after being caught on camera assaulting a police officer? And what about Denny Grijalva, who destroyed our precious Mayan temple, Noh Mul. Barrow will, in short order, be endorsing Grijalva as his pick for the UDP in Orange Walk Central. So then, while John Saldivar may on paper be the owner of the athletic Belmopan Bandits, the real man keeping the Bandits in power and defending their every criminal move, is none other than 666 – Dean Oliver Barrow.