Briceño Defends Moral Authority to Discuss Arbitration Award

Does P.U.P. Leader John Briceño have the moral authority to speak about the arbitration award? That was the question put to him by a reporter today at the press conference. So does he?

Reporter

“SpeedNet – it’s a company your family owns and it’s a company that’s mentioned also in the accommodation agreement. I keep an electronic version handy. Do you feel that you have the moral authority to speak on this issue when SpeedNet, your family company, is such an integral part of the entire architecture of the telecommunications landscape and is a part of the Ashcroft Alliance in a very much broader sense?”

John Briceño

John Briceño, P.U.P. Leader

“I don’t want for you to believe that this is personal Jules, but if you were to use that kind of argument…Do you have the moral authority to ask these questions when your father has been part and parcel of the takeover of B.T.L. and the mismanagement of B.T.L.? that here we have now that we are saddled with five hundred and fifty million dollars that’s a burden to the Belizean people. But let me answer you.  No, no. let me answer you. I will answer your question now. It has been no secret that my family is involved with the competition against B.T.L., SpeedNet. They got no special concessions from the Government of Belize; they got no tax exemptions from the government of Belize and thirdly, I was unaware of that agreement…you knew that. You’ve asked me this before Jules…if I knew about the agreement. You know that we did not know about that agreement.  So how can then you ask whether I have a moral authority to speak? Of course I have a moral authority. I am the Leader of the Opposition, I am the leader of this party and we have to hold Dean Barrow and the U.D.P. accountable for the folly and what is costing this country hundreds of millions of dollars.”