John Briceño Comes Out Swinging Against G.O.B.

John Briceño

The Opposition has waged war on the Petrocaribe issue, condemning the government for accessing the funds without going to the House for approval. So it was open season today, and Orange Walk Central Area Representative Briceño came out firing.

John Briceño, Area Rep., Orange Walk Central

“On April twenty-fifth of 2008, in this honorable House, this is what the prime minister said in the national assembly; this is what he promised in this honorable House and to the people of Belize. He said, this administration campaigned to the Belizean people, especially over the last few years on a platform of reform, on a platform of transparency and on a platform of good governance. Obviously the prime minister forgot his promise to the Belizean people because that is our problem. There has been no transparency, there has been no good governance and there has been no good accountability on how this two hundred and twenty-eight million dollars of Petrocaribe monies is going to be spent. And we can go through all these projects Mister Speaker and we can show the waste and the abuse that has been done with these programs and these projects where only certain cronies are getting all the projects, where only certain cronies are making all the hustling under the Petrocaribe and there is absolutely no accountability on how these monies are being spent. We hear nothing about if there has been any tendering for these contracts. I haven’t heard about any. I know that the road on the highway in Orange Walk wasn’t tendered and ih done the broke up already—I am coming to that. We’ve seen projects coming all over the place, Mister Speaker, and there has been no tendering. And then when you look at the names, Mister Speaker, it is only a small circle of friends and family that are participating and are benefiting under the Pestrocaribe projects because they are the ones that are getting all the work.”