Faber Cries Shame on Ex-P.M. Musa

Said Musa

As you heard in the news on Wednesday, former Prime Minister Said Musa said that the matter could have been settled during his term in office and that government had indeed received funding from Taiwan and Venezuela that would have cleared the debt. But, Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber was not having it today – he responded with some choice words, condemning the former PM.  Faber says that the Government would not have paid for something that didn’t benefit Belizeans, and that idea of the Venezuelan and Taiwanese monies to clear the debt is, “absolutely ridiculous.”

Patrick Faber

Patrick Faber, Deputy Prime Minister

“I cry shame on him. He wanted us to pay for something that the Belizean people have not benefitted from. They were not benefitting from it then and they are not benefitting from it now.   In fact, he is saying that the Venezuelan money and the Taiwanese grants would have been used to cover that and we would not have any debt – that is absolutely ridiculous, because those monies, as we all know now, well at least the Venezuelan portion was returned and used on the Belizean people. In fact, I remember when we retrieved the twenty million dollars from Belize Bank and the Prime Minister said were were going to then use that money for housing, which was the original intention of the Venezuelan Government when they gifted this money to us. The former Prime Minister and his constituency was the first constituency to benefit, how ironic. So, he should be ashamed to even mention that and in fact the Belizean people paying even ten dollars for something they have not been benefitting from is shame whether it is forty million or eighty million. It is ridiculous that he makes that point. In fact, I support the Prime Minister to not pay especially when you had the courts on our side; certainly, the Supreme Court and the Appeals Court made the point that we were on the right footing. Why would we back down and pay? So, I condemn the former Prime Minister for those statements. He really should be ashamed.”