Opposition Leader Kicked Off Budget Debate inside H.O.R.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow

The three-day 2023 budget debate officially got underway this morning with a response from the Leader of the Opposition to the Prime Minister’s Budget Speech, which was delivered earlier in March. Moses “Shyne” Barrow, spoke for approximately ninety-nine minutes, roughly twenty minutes more than the Prime Minister spoke during his budget speech. And, Barrow spent the majority of that time challenging the economic statistics reported by the prime minister a few weeks ago. But, this highly anticipated “opposition budget” provided little to no alternatives for the issues that were highlighted. Furthermore, some of the data presented may require a bit of fact-checking, as several members of the House pointed out when it was their turn to speak. Here is an extract from the Opposition Leader’s remarks on the I.M.F.’s recent review of Belize’s economic performance and the S.I.B.’s latest figures.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“Distorting statistics from the IMF, I should say their bff, the IMF, and the SIB to paint a picture of performance that simply does not exist madam speaker. This smoke screen government, you know the member from Caribbean Shores almost took offense that I was an entertainer. I am retired but I am still a business owner in the orange sector and I have no shame. You can’t just use us when you want election songs, I am proud to be a musician. But, Madam Speaker in the entertainment world, in Hollywood, what you see is not what you get, and it reminds me of a friend that I have, where I came out of one of the harshest, forty-two B member from Caribbean Shores, I can stop and you can continue if you would like, Madam Speaker, I remember I had a friend and he was in the entertainment business as well, I grew up in very difficult circumstance in Brooklyn when I left Mesopotamia and very violent impoverished community, so when I got into the music industry I escaped the horrors and nightmares in the inner-city community living. But, my friend came from a very posh living; upper middle class and he wanted to be what I came from. I wanted to get a good life, escape poverty, give my mother a house, and retire her and not have her clean people house and do menial jobs to feed me. And, this is what the Prime Minister reminds me of, all the grand standing on nothing. This is not the entertainment business, this is serious business of making the Belizean people’s lives better Madam Speaker.”