Minister Musa Chides the Opposition Leader on Conduct in the H.O.R.

Minister Musa also weighed in on the Leader of the Opposition’s dismissal from the Sitting of the House of Representatives last Friday. As we reported, Minister Musa was presenting on the Legal Aid Bill when the Opposition Leader, Moses “Shyne” Barrow, rose on a point of clarification. That then led to a heated exchange between Barrow and Valerie Woods, the Speaker of the House. Speaker Woods then requested that Barrow be removed from the remainder of the session. Barrow has since declared that he is innocent of any wrongdoing during the exchange. On the other hand, Minister Musa chided the Opposition Leader, stating that a greater level of professionalism is expected of him inside the House.

Kareem Musa

Kareem Musa, Area Representative, Caribbean Shores

“He’s saying now that its elucidation, but he did not express what his point of order was and in fact became very disrespectful to the speaker. No, he’s just chalking it up and saying, oh, he’s saying that the speaker is PUP. He’s trying to downplay what, in actuality the effect of what he was saying because what he was insinuating is that the speaker is biased and he is calling the calling in to question the integrity and reputation of the chair. That is essentially what he was doing and that has never been done in the seven years that I’ve been a part of the host of representatives. We’ve always had respect for the previous Madam Speaker, but for whatever reason and then he tried to hide it on top of that to compound what he has already done in calling into question the speaker’s integrity. He then tried to lie and say, I did not say that. You could just look at the clip. And he was trying to deny that because he knew exactly what he was doing. And so it is very unfortunate, like I said, and perhaps it’s, perhaps it’s just part of the learning curve because he’s a first time I rep, but he’s a leader of the opposition and a lot more is expected out of him in terms of his professionalism and his respect for the speaker of the house.”

Paul Lopez

“Uh, maybe there’s a, there’s a need for a, a conversation to happen whereby, uh, speaker of the house, uh, selected is not connected to a political party.”

Kareem Musa

“You’re saying for us to do what? You know how everybody in Belize, they will say, regardless of who, if I put you there, they’ll send you dah P.U.P. That’s just how things are in Belize, even Marisol is saying that. So that’s just, that’s just how things are in the country. And I’ve heard both sides to that argument because there are some PUP, uh, individuals who are watching and say, but why is the speaker so biased against the PUP? I’ve heard that. Why is the speaker always, uh, lashing out on our side of the government? I’ve heard that. So it goes both ways. I think this is one of the most fair, um, above the free speakers that we’ve ever had.”