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November 21th , 2010
REID BETWEEN THE LINES
A nation in disarray! vote, decided against attending. Lois Young, representing both the buyers and the sellers in this deal, went absolutely berserk and issued what could only be construed as a public threat to the representatives. She obviously achieved her objective as the representatives made
G. Michael Reid Belize’s parliamentarians were at it once again this past Friday and as usual, it was pretty much same old same old. Lots of finger pointing, name calling and recriminating but at the end of it all, as is always the case, the opposition had a say but the government of the day had its way. This Westminster system that we call democracy has proven itself many times over to be just one big joke. Once a political party is “first past the post”, they have the only and final say as to what will be the order of the day. In particular when one party has a super majority as this current administration does, then there is little that the opposition, the business community, the unions or especially the electorate can do about any law or policy that they wish to put in place. The sittings, the debates, the press releases are inutile and futile as very little can be done to reverse any decision made or action taken. The way politics is played in Belize, and in particular by this Dean Barrow administration, never will we see any ruling party member standing up to object or vote against any bill that is presented to the House; despite any hazard to his or her constituency. It is not encouraged and it is not tolerated. During the past administration, we saw a trend developing where it occurred a few times but could anyone really imagine that possibility with this crowd? The recent vote by the Social Security Board showed just how ridiculous our whole system of governance is. The board is comprised of nine members; five representatives from the government and four from the Social Partners; namely the Unions and the Business Community. The Social Partners decided that upon reviewing the BTL prospectus and after examining the risks involved, that it would not make good sense to invest fifty million of the people’s money in BTL shares. Bear in mind now, that these are the people who represent the workers and the employers, the two major contributors to the fund. A meeting was called and the Social Partners decided that they did not have enough time to consult with their members and knowing that they would be pressed for a
ing the same old tired tactic. “How dare you, you hypocrite!” “Here’s what you did when you were in office!” It is the same old song meeting in and meeting out. Mr. Barrow, we are appalled by any wrongdoing by any representative of the people but we are tired of
Now that Mr. Barrow has decided to grant himself fifty million dollars of taxpayer’s money, again they all like good little puppies just fall in line and rubberstamp. Maybe we need to sing to Mr. Barrow, a line from our National Anthem; “No tyrants shall linger, despots must flee.” sure to present themselves to at the next meeting. The vote was called and while those representatives gave a resounding NO, the five government representatives did as was expected and toed the party line. The rest as they say, is history. The same scenario is played out every time that a bill is passed in the House and goes to the Senate for review. There is debate but at the end of the day, with the government controlling a majority of seats, there is really nothing that can be done to stop any bill from going through. During the past administration, there was a referendum held where the people voted in favor of an elected senate. Many felt that this would create more of a checks and balance and give the people more say in how the country is run. The current administration has totally disregarded that vote and while Mr. Barrow had promised to extend the Senate, not even that promise has been kept. The fact of the matter is that at this point, Belize is pretty much run as a dictatorship. When Mr. Barrow decided to appropriate BTL, not even the members of his cabinet knew what he was planning. Upon being informed though, they all went along like good little sheep with nary a dissenting bleat. Now that Mr. Barrow has decided to grant himself fifty million dollars of taxpayer’s money, again they all like good little puppies just fall in line and rubberstamp. Maybe we need to sing to Mr. Barrow, a line from our National Anthem; “No tyrants shall linger, despots must flee.” The hot discussions in the House this past Friday centered around this same BTL issue and the big stink in the Immigration Department. As is their usual response to any matter raised in the House, the UDP’s line of reasoning was, “unuh did it too.” I am confident that I am not the only one tired of Prime Minister Barrow and his lame band of dodo birds employ-
the same old rhetoric! How about spending some time informing us of what you are doing that is different or beneficial to the people? When the matter of the Judiciary was raised, Mr. Barrow went once again back to 1998 and the issue of Justice Sosa. When the Immigration matter was raised, Mr. Perdomo pointed to the amount of Chinese brought in by the previous administration. When the matter of BTL was discussed, Mr. Barrow once again built his defense around a secret arrangement by the former Prime Minister. These issues have been hashed and rehashed and beaten to a pulp. When will these people get it? They are now the ones in the captain’s chair but they have this ship headed straight
toward the reef. The sugar cane industry is on the verge collapse, the citrus industry remains in turmoil, cost of living is spiraling out of control, the murder rate is highest in the world and taxes climb higher every day. Yet, after nearly three years in office, the UDP’s are still blaming the PUP. For once we would like for this current administration to address issues based on the strength of their merit as opposed to the weakness of the PUP’s demerit. The PUP was voted out and the UDP promised that they could and would do better. It is time for the crying and for some real work to begin. In the meantime, another drug plane has landed. One up north, three at the airport and now this one down south; what is happening here? These of course, are only the ones that we know about; how many fly in under the radar? Residents of the area around which the plane was found report frequent sounds of planes flying low in the area. Many can remember back to the two previous UDP administrations when such occurrences were pretty much the order of the day. Some high ups are getting filthy rich but our country is slowly dying. We need but look north to the situation in Mexico and decide if we can really afford to go that way. Let us not forget the words of the legendary statesman Phillip Goldson; “the time to save your country is before you lose it”.
BAR ASSOCIATION OF BELIZE November 15, 2010 RELEASE FROM THE EXECUTIVE OF THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF BELIZE
The Bar Association of Belize (the “Association”) respects the right of each and every one of its members, including its executive members, to hold opinions without interference and to belong to any political party or other political association of their choosing. These rights which are enshrined in the Belize Constitution are in fact the rights of every Belizean. The Association expects only that its members exercise those rights in accordance with fairness and good sense. The Association respects and embraces the input and influence of all of its members, inclusive of those who are red and blue, and the Association recognizes that differences in opinion and perspective in an environment where sober and rational analysis prevails serve only to enhance and develop the Association for the benefit of all concerned including the general public. The Association condemns in the strongest possible terms the very public and unwarranted attacks upon the Association launched by the Honourable Prime Minister Dean Barrow in the House of Representatives on Friday, November 12, 2010. The Honourable Prime Minister has obviously sought to put political labels on and personalize the reasoned position of the Association, with a view to inflame and incite his supporters and thereby avoid the manifest need to address in a sober and rational way the very serious allegation that the Honourable Prime Minister has sought to undermine the rule of law through unwarranted and unjustified interference with persons holding high judicial office. The Association reminds the Honourable Prime Minister that, as Prime Minister, he was elected to govern and serve all the people of Belize. The Association wishes to further publicly bring to the attention of the Prime Minister that in accordance with the Legal Profession (Code of Conduct) Rules he, as a member of the profession, is legally obliged to maintain the honour and dignity of the legal profession and shall refrain from conduct which is detrimental to the profession or which may tend to discredit it. As an attorney, he is further clearly prohibited by those Rules from engaging in undignified or discourteous conduct which is degrading to his profession. -
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