Musa appeals to patriotism on 21st

The official ceremonies marking Independence Day are anticipated less for the pomp and pageantry than for a chance to hear two different perspectives on the state of the nation. Having offered his detailed views last week in Belmopan, Prime Minister Said Musa on Thursday morning could afford to present the broad historical view and appeal to our patriotism.

Prime Minister Said Musa

“Today as we celebrate the 19th anniversary of independence, we can look back with pride on the road we have traveled thus far in forging the destiny of our nation. Through hard work and sacrifice, a people of many origins made Belize their home, building a sovereign, democratic state of Central America in the Caribbean region.”

“Today we live in a stable parliamentary democracy. Since independence, the Belizean people have seamlessly changed four governments without civil strife, by the ballot and not by the bullet. On Independence Day, we promised the world the Belize with the help of God and the support of its people will stand upright and will do its duty to help bring peace, stability and prosperity to our region and to the wider circles of planet earth. We were accepted as an equal in the community of nations of the world and have since that time distinguished ourselves as a nation committed to the principles of peace, social justice and democracy. My fellow Belizeans, at 19 we are still a young nation. We have come far since independence, but we have further, much further to go. For freedom is not a safe habour, a resting place, a finished work. It is a challenge constantly renewed to change, to reform, to build a modern Belize with justice and opportunity to all.”

Although Barrow addressed the crowd first, Musa chose not to join the debate… at least not at this particular time and place.

Prime Minister Said Musa

“This is not the time or the place to answer my friend the Honourable Leader of the Opposition. But you know, I am reminded listening to him, of something that the British Statesman William Gladstone once said, “Swimming for his political life, he cannot see much of the country through which the river winds.”