14 AUG
2016
THE BELIZE TIMES
07 7
Questions to Ministers!
Can the Minister of Finance or Minister of Works how much has been spent on the causeway between San Ignacio and Buena Vista Village and when the project will be completed since its due date of August 2015? Has the new Minister of Police seen the Mason tapes? Can the Minister of Police explain why the Commissioner of Police is on prolonged vacation at a time when our country has faced not one, but two national security crises?
Belizeans left to suffer alone
Continued from page 2 The PUPs were left on their own. That’s all a thing of the past, though. The Prime Minister revealed in his press conference that the money is done, and that his Area Representatives won’t be handing out any emergency relief. Belizeans who have been affected will need to go find Mr. NEMO to see if he can help. And I’m telling you that Mr. NEMO is hard to find after a storm. Don’t be looking out for trucks full of materials and goods and fill and all sorts of stuff. There’s no election soon so the UDP fat cats don’t really need your vote right now. And that’s that. And there’s another thing which has been really bothering me. The farmers in the South of Orange Walk haven’t even recovered from a drought which cost them millions – almost thirty million. And now this. Yesterday the PM joked about the tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions in losses as a consequence of Earl – to corn farmers and vegetable farmers and banana growers especially. But he didn’t say one word about any assistance to these farmers. He’s thinking about all the money he can get in relief money, but will any of that money
go to assist the poor farmers who are currently devastated? Will there be any government subsidies to assist them through this difficult time – any concessionary loans through the DFC, any programs to give them a boost? Many of our farmers put every cent they have into their crops. Now their crops are destroyed, so how will they eat? I am pretty sure that the Prime Minister doesn’t have those poor people worries, so maybe he doesn’t get the concept of living hand to mouth. But out here the poverty is very real. I don’t think the PM gets it. I’m angry because the PM and his UDP administration spent money irresponsibly, money which could have improved our lives in the medium term and long term. That was the purpose of the Petrocaribe money. Instead it was used for political handouts to UDP lickeys. It was used to buy elections and now we are left with nothing. We have hundreds of millions of Petrocaribe dollars between 2012 and 2015 – and now we have nothing, and nothing to show for it. Earl is gone. All the money is gone. Don’t wait for the best to come. You’re on your own.
Can the Prime Minister report to the nation which of his Cabinet Ministers has had their U.S. Visa revoked? Will the Foreign Minister report to the nation on his meeting with the U.S. Ambassador over the revoking of a senior Government official’s U.S. Visa? Can the Minister of Housing explain how the Government will assist Belizeans who lost homes during Hurricane Earl? Can the Minister of Foreign Affairs report what the high-salaried Embassies are doing for Belize? Can the Minister of Health explain why there are still not enough beds for patients at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital?