Protest still on; Barrow will introduce his resolutions
In the meantime, Opposition Leader Dean Barrow will introduce his motions, which on principle no PUP will support, however much they might agree with his sentiments. News Five’s Stewart Krohn spoke to Barrow this morning, before many of these details became known. We asked him what he expected to happen, both inside and outside the National Assembly building.
Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
“I think there is going to be a huge crowd of protestors there. We initially had not planned for as many as now seem likely to make that journey. Clearly because of the media focus, because of the job that certainly the radio stations have been doing, there is I think a tremendous outpouring of concern over this thing and so I expect a huge crowd. I am not sure where they are going to be contained because certainly in the square beneath the steps of the National Assembly I don’t see that more than a thousand persons can hold and we are certainly expecting well in excess of that; I would think not less than three thousand persons and perhaps more. But certainly I can commit on national television that we will make every effort to ensure that this remains peaceful throughout.
In terms of inside the chambers, at this stage it’s still not absolutely certain. That is because we have no sight of the motion, if it is going to be a motion, that the government will present. It seems absolutely clear now that they will bring some kind of an arrangement to deal with this thing to the House. We’ve heard Francis Fonseca as late as last night saying that there will be some structured solution that government will present. I am not sure whether it’s going to be in the form of a motion, I’m not sure whether it’s going to be in the form of a bill. In either case, we are not certain as well whether they will be prepared for the debate and vote to take place at that session. If it is a bill, for example, they have the option of saying it’s going to go to committee, which will hold public hearings and we come back in two weeks time. So there is a great deal of uncertainty and that can’t be cleared up I am afraid, until we get sight either later this evening or perhaps not until first thing in the morning of exactly what it is that they propose to bring to the table of the National Assembly.
If they adopt this kind of manoeuvre, which would succeed in postponing the debate on whatever it is they bring, then I have my own motions that in any case would require an immediate debate. And so we are thinking that we are in a position to force the issue in one form or another so that there is some kind of conclusion that will take place tomorrow. We don’t think that the public mood is such that anything else will be satisfactory.”
Those two motions that Barrow will be introducing are pretty straightforward. The first disapproves of the December ninth, 2004 loan guarantee on the basis that Prime Minister Said Musa signed it without Cabinet’s approval or knowledge. The second refers to the loan note of March twenty-third, 2007, signed with the Belize Bank, recording the House’s disapproval because the debt was incurred without the endorsement of the National Assembly. While Barrow admits that his motions will not be passed and that the Government’s new loan arrangements will eventually be approved, he believes that Friday’s meeting will prove to be one more nail in the P.U.P.’s political coffin.
Dean Barrow
“I am satisfied that in ventilating the issue, that in bringing it to the National Assembly, that in having it fully debated, that I would have succeeded in advancing this issue to the extent that in Opposition we possibly can. This whole issue has already wounded the government in what I think is a mortal fashion. Whatever happens on Friday is going to worsen the situation. It can either make it terminal or merely it worse without its being terminal. But either way you take it, the embarrassment, the difficulty, the untenability of that situation that the government finds itself in is going to be confirmed after Friday.”
Stewart Krohn
“With only ten months, or less than ten months to go before the legally mandated elections, it is really in the U.D.P.’s best interest to precipitate an early election. Wouldn’t you prefer to have more time to get your team strengthened for the task of governance?”
Dean Barrow
“Of course we are not completely ready, we are not completely fighting fit in terms of being in an election mode. But in the current climate one doesn’t have to be fighting fit. There is no way if the elections were called in the next month or so, given this crisis, there is no way the government can win. I would agree that even if it takes nine months this is not something that the government can recover from, but the longer it goes the more there is a chance that they may be able to see some daylight, to extract some small advantage or to lessen the size of the disaster as it currently is. So I think that from the point of view of not wanting to take any chances, it clearly would be better for us if the elections were held now. But it’s bigger that than, I feel that there is genuinely an overpowering sentiment out there for the elections to be held now.”
“There is this level of public frustration or perhaps people venting their feelings on the talk shows is a good thing, maybe it’s some sort of an escape valve, but you hear the talk beginning to tend more to violence and I believe that if we are to make absolutely sure that we avoid that possibility after tomorrow, it will be best for all concerned if the elections were held sooner rather than later.”
Speaking to Barrow late this evening, he pledged that if it turns out that a vote on the loan motion is delayed, he will urge his supporters to return to Belmopan next Friday.
