Senates Meets in Belmopan, 2nd Reading of 3 Bills Deferred

The Senate met today in Belmopan, and the session ended in less than an hour. It was an unusually short Senate meeting, and that’s because there wasn’t much debate.  The majority of the senators agreed to defer the second reading of three bills brought forward from the House of Representatives.  Those three bills are the Central Bank of Belize Amendment Bill, the Finance and Audit Reform Amendment Bill, and the Public Contracts Commission Bill.  Lead Opposition Senator Michael Peyrefitte says he was disappointed that he could not debate the bills today.

Michael Peyrefitte, Lead U.D.P. Senator

“I am kind of disappointed. I got hype up for nothing. It is like you get ready for a game and then the man said we will postpone the game. We always ready you know. We take the motto of the coast guard. We ready for anything.”

Hipolito Novelo

“What are some of the key points that you would have debated today?”

Michael Peyrefitte

Michael Peyrefitte

“Well  I don’t want to give away my strategy so you can tell them but I think even the government knows that there would be some issues with those bills being passed in the senate. So I think that is maybe why they decided to hold off on them so we can talk about them some more, recommendation can be made and if substantive changes need to be made to the bill then that can be made and sent back to the House of Representatives for the to further debate but that is Leader of Government Business in the Senate.”