Ousted minister blames deputy PM for demotion

A day after he was stripped from Cabinet, Marcel Cardona is talking and he is laying blame on the deputy prime minister. While Cardona is refraining from giving interviews, he released a promised statement which was hand-delivered today to our newsroom. The ousted minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, says in the release that he accepts the decision by Prime Minister Dean Barrow to remove his ministerial duties and laid the blame for the demotion at the feet of Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega. Cardona says that for a while now Vega has been publicly saying he would personally ensure his “destitution” and “removal”. According to the document, at a special Cabinet meeting last Friday, Vega launched a “vicious attack” on him and called for his removal. It continues that “although the Prime Minister promised to exercise fairness in judgment, impartiality, and equanimity in considering whether to accede to the Deputy Prime Minister’s request, he, nevertheless, chose to opportunely expel me from Cabinet as a means of finally punishing me for having publicly embarrassed the Honourable Prime Minister and his self-avowed open transparent, accountable, and corruption-free government by publicly exposing the obvious sweetheart deal in relation to the unauthorized and secret Diane Haylock contract with David Gegg”. The Orange Walk East area rep says that he will not be dissuaded from his duty to his constituents and all Belizeans and will be an advocate for the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.