Mark Espat tells UDP stop blaming PUP administration
Since taking office in 2008 the Barrow administration has made numerous references to what is known as the Super Bond which was negotiated by the previous administration. During the Budget Debate last Thursday the subject of the bond was once again revisited and according to the government it is a heavy load for debt financing. Minister John Saldivar put it squarely on former government minister and Albert area representative Mark Espat. Espat this morning responded in kind during an appearance on Open Your Eyes.
Mark Espat
Mark Espat, Albert Area Representative
“As it relates to the super bond I said in the house on Thursday and I would repeat here that you have to provide solutions not keep harping back on the past. If the government in its wisdom determined that the country’s commercial debt, it’s commercial foreign debt made up of the so called super bond was not affordable in their projection then they should have gone in the first instance immediately after their election to the creditors, those who Belize owes money to and say I’m sorry I’m not gonna be able to pay you back on that schedule. Alternatively when the financial crisis descended upon us then they had a second opportunity to say you know this worldwide recession, the worst since the Great Depression, is such that clearly we are not able to pay. They have missed two golden opportunities and it seems to me that what their objective really is to keep using this as a Bogeyman to say oh here is the super bond it is made of past debts by the last administration. Every administration borrows money.”
According to Espat when the People’s United Party assumed office in 1998 the national debt had already stood at about five hundred million dollars.
I fully agree with Espat. We need solutions for Belize to move forward. Not excuses and more excuses.
If Mr Espat had the interest of the Belizean people at heart, Espat and the Pup should have advised the UDP Government on methods to deal with this debt and especially the super bond debt. It is too easy to criticize the party in power.
Carlton, you noh andastand dat ih hard fu advize wah ignorant jac-ass, sarry, wah “Donkey”. Fu we Prime Minista very arrogant mi bredda. Dat woulda mi be di right ting fu do, but fram di time di man get inagorated, di man gawn pah wah vindictive spree weh noh goh soh, dehn all hell bruk loose. “Politricks” da wah b…. mi friend, survival fu di fittest or any port fu wah storm. You jus noh know how me feel bout weh di gohwan da fu we country my bwai. “Six a wan and half a dozen a di ada”. Maybi nex election wi need fu vote fu di Minista dem weh di do good fu wi peole dem inna dem constuency even dough dem tongue an hand tie bicause a beauracracy. You stop deh an tek part fu any wan ah dem, you wah look like wah “Jac-ass, sarry, wah “Donkey”.
Okay Carlton…. Talking about criticizing! I think that’s what he’s trying to do. Like he stated “Every administration borrows money”. This UDP party is solely out for themselves and its obvious to everyone foreign or domestic. If there was anyone that would be great for Belize it would be Mark and I am bias to all parties.
Mark is the true leader of The New and Improved PUP!!!
I do not believe in no political party but let’s be reasonable! It is always easy to sit and criticise your leader…by the way Martinez you should but you should also do it in a more respectable manner but perhaps this is as much that your vocabulary allows you …in this case my appologies.
We should not blame the leaders because we were the ones who put them in office because they dropped off some money or a load of sand to fill our yards even though they have no real knowledge of what it takes to lead a country…After this don’t expect them to be overnight leaders blame your self for selling your vote to the highest bidder! They make promisses to us that we know that they can never meet but like fools we vote for them. Here is a secret no government can reduce your taxes because this is the only way they can get money to function. So to tell you they will increase services and reduce taxes that is impossible.
It seems like political leaders always have the solutions to our problems when they are out of office. They all want the current government to forget the mess they did and move on until they get into office then they will start to sing the same “Sanky”.
Do Belizeans realize that we keep re-electing failed leaders. Check what will happen over and over again. As soon as this crowd get too bad for us to deal with we will re-elect the last crowd who was as bad or worse than they were and then four or eight years later we will re-elect these guys right back in…and the cycle continues.
Espat said they inherited a deficit also ask him when did the crime problem in Belize get bad? If the budget was bad and the streets would be safe people would live a way better life.
On their behalf the job to lead a country is tough even in good times and it is surely not for the faint of heart.
you are so right “CEO’ we need to stop blaming politicians for their corrupt behaviour and accept the responsibility for putting them there in the first place. They will never change!!!
I have a tremendous amount of resepct for Mark Espat but his rebuttal of the super bond is weak. Saying that the current government should have simply made a case to the creditors for defaulting is simply ludicrous. So in essence, he’s admitting the super bond is a burden to the country but it’s up to this government to negotiate a new payment structure. That isn’t even an option as the terms are set in place and any deviation could potentially cost the country of Belize more money. Has it occurred to him that in the midst of the largest global economic crisis that the independent nation of Belize has ever seen, these creditors are also feeling the noose tighten? Fortune 500 companies are folding. They’re as deperate for money as is the country of Belize. The econmy actually provides less incentive for them to restructure the bond and if they did so, it wouldn’t under terms that would be favorable to Belize in the long run.
Essentially what he’s saying is that yes the PUP screwed up, but it’s not our fault you can’t fix it.
Normally, belizean vote on election day and forget the rest for the next 5 years. Belizeans need to be more involve. “Citizen participation in Good Governance” is extremely important. Don’t depend on any politician to get the job done. We need to put pressure on any government. A political party is only as good as its members. A third party might or might not solve our problems. Belize have some good, smart people that can become excellent politicians. Where are they? You need to step up and participate. We need to think about country before self. United we stand, divided we break. Long live Belize.