Sedi Takes Aim at the Media

Wilfred Elrington

And after complaining that Belizeans travelling to the Sarstoon as stalkers, and suggesting that those Belizeans are provoking Guatemalans, Elrington turned his attention to the media. He announced that he will no longer be granting interviews on his own, since the media apparently has an ulterior motive. Fortunately, as we found out, the views of the Foreign Minister aren’t shared by all his colleagues.

Wilfred Elrington, Area Representative, Pickstock

“My new resolve…I was saying in your absence Mister Leader for the Opposition and member for Orange Walk Central that I commend you for appointing your advisory team. I was commending you on your elevation to the status of Leader of the Opposition and I was saying that since this new term, I am resolved, along with your team, to make sure that I will not give any more interviews to any newspaper or to any television station unless I do it jointly with a member of Opposition party because this is a national issue and we must speak with one voice. The practice of the media has been to come, take you and your view and then twist it in a way that you don’t recognize it, seeming to have one thought in mind—confuse the public and try to make you look bad. They have not had much success, but I can tell you they don’t give a… Well Mister Speaker that era is ended; I will no longer give any interview on my own.”

Michael Finnegan

Michael Finnegan, Area Representative, Mesopotamia

“I want to congratulate the press for the good job they have done in covering the sittings and the debates in this House of Representative. When I say the press, I mean the total press—Channel Five, Channel Seven, Krem News, Pastor Wade Station…everyone of them I di congratulate. I think they do wah wonderful job. And make I give unu wah story with the press before I go. If the press do something weh yon oh like, it noh mean that the press bad and yow ah vilify the press and yo wah run down the press. We noh wah run down the media man. We cannot afford to run down the media. The media must operate with freeness. The media must operate under a fair mind; the media must be free to criticize and critique anyone ah we ina this House and the media must be free to critique our policies. The media must be free to critique how we handle the Guatemala issue. It doesn’t mean that the media is against us, but that is their job and we must congratulate them.”

When we checked, the debate was still ongoing in Belmopan and the Prime Minister will be doing a wrap up to close the two days of debate.