Opposition Loses Opportunity to Present Alternative Bill in House

Francis Fonseca

The People’s United Party consulted the expertise of a team of lawyers, led by Senior Counsel Andrew Marshalleck, to draft a legal alternative to the Petrocaribe Amendment Act.  With all the effort that went into preparing that document, it was never presented in the House since the P.U.P. lost the opportunity when it walked out.  The Opposition is now leaning on its social partners to disseminate the information.  According to Fonseca, the proposed bill takes into careful consideration the concerns of the business community, the unions, as well as the churches.

Francis Fonseca, P.U.P. Leader

“Well we have shared it, you know.  We have shared it with our partners, social partners.  Many of them have had an opportunity to review the bill because we want their input and we want their support.  So that was in fact the first step and now we will proceed obviously to, at the next opportunity, to present the bill before the National Assembly.  The forum in which we will do that will have to be discussed and determined but clearly our objective is to ensure that the Belizean people understand that we are presenting a solution to them.  As Honorable Julius Espat has said, you know, we’re almost at the point where you give up on the National Assembly.  The conduct of this government in the National Assembly is very difficult to have any serious debate, it is difficult for us to present in a responsible manner our solutions.  But we will continue to do so of course, we will continue to do so but it is much more important for us that we share those ideas and solutions with the Belizean people.  And so we do so with our social partners and we are going to do so, we are using this forum today to share it with the Belizean people and we will continue to do so.”