Said Defends Superbond Spending; Says Massive Development Took Place
Said Musa
Former Prime Minister Said Musa stood to make his contribution to the debate this afternoon. As he said at the outset, he wanted to defend his Government’s decision to make the loans that would come to form the Superbond, and disprove the current administration’s claims that there is nothing to show for the one point one billion dollars borrowed and spent during that time. From streets to housing to electricity and water, Musa issued a litany of projects across the country that he said came from the Superbond loan funds. Their legacy, he said, is what he is most proud of.
Said Musa, Area Rep., Fort George
“The Prime Minister has nowhere else to turn, so he has to find a diversion, he has to find a [scapegoat]; and he continues with scapegoating all his Government’s abuse, all his reckless spending, all their corruption – blame it on the P.U.P. Superbond. Well, Madam Speaker, I crave your indulgence for me to go through, because the Prime Minister challenged me, and he said, ‘they have nothing to show for it.’ Well, Madam Speaker, tell that to the thousands of Belizeans who live in the rural communities, who have benefited from the massive expansion of potable water systems in their villages. Villages like Monkey River, in the [Toledo] District; Cristo Rey, Billy White, Santa Familia, Los Tambos in the Cayo District; Trinidad, San Antonio, Santa Martha, Santa Cruz, Carmelita, Yo Creek, San Felipe, Guinea Grass in the Orange Walk District; Yo Chen, Patchakan, San Pedro, in the Corozal District. And the people in Toledo, Madam Speaker, who received their good, clean running water and electricity under the P.U.P., they know better! (Applause) In Barranco, Santa Ana, Cattle Landing, Forest Home, Eldridge[ville], Jacintoville, Jordan, Aguacate, Blue Creek, Laguna, San Felipe, Silver Creek, San Pedro Columbia, San Miguel, San Antonio, Big Falls, Midway –yes, Madam Speaker, (Applause) water systems and electricity. We also had electricity expansion in Rootsville in – is it still called that? – Lake Independence, Rootsville; they didn’t have electricity before ’98. And all those extension areas of Belize City, who have benefited from expanded water systems, from the Double Run development, with new pipes that ran from Double Run all the way through Ladyville to Belize City; that was done, yes, with Superbond money. It goes without saying that all these new housing developments required major – it’s not only houses you see; this is the point that they tend to forget – it’s not only houses the P.U.P. built. We carried out major investments in infrastructure – not only in the cost of the houses, but also land reclamation, streets and drains, playgrounds, water and electricity for all these homes. So we may not have built a monument, like the big fancy Central Bank Building; but the P.U.P. built over ten thousand houses! (Applause) That is the monument we are proud of.”
Musa later said that the P.U.P. felt that they could grow the economy and have enough savings to pay down on the loans that became the Superbond, but they never got the chance to do so.
