Who Else Will Testify in Senate Inquiry?
Moses Shyne Barrow
Round one of the Senate Select Committee’s inquiry into the Portico/government Definitive Agreement took place on Tuesday at the National Assembly Building in Belmopan. That investigation is expected to unearth the depth of the agreement that was signed under the Barrow administration and businessman, David Gegg, the proprietor of Portico. The first persons to be called to testify at the inquiry were the U.D.P.’s former Attorney General, Mike Peyrefitte and its former Minister of State, Tracy Taegar-Panton. And today, Leader of the Opposition, Shyne Barrow told the media that he is as confident now as he was before the inquiry began that no other U.D.P. member will come into question other than the former Minister of Economic Development who single-handedly signed the agreement on behalf of the government.
Moses Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
“I’m confident now as I was then, that nothing of the sort will come about other than the former minister that we have already condemned then. We have already said that we had nothing to do with the Portico Agreement. And I believe former minister, the honorable member from Albert’s has already established that and reinforce that. And the Honorable Senator, former minister Peyrefitte established that , so I don’t think that anything was unearthed or there was any contradictions or there was any gotcha moment from my understanding. I don’t know if you feel different.”
Reporter
“The Prime Minister said it would be a waste of taxpayers dollars if he was to be summoned. If the PUP was to be summoned, do you share those same thoughts?”
Moses Shyne Barrow
“Absolutely not. I don’t believe in an open society with open government where we have to be held to account. That this is a waste of time any more than the Commission of Inquiry was a waste of time. I believe that, you know, governments have a right, to investigate and to inquire into matters that they deem corrupt. So, in this particular instance, it is not the Government, it is not the Opposition. It is the stakeholders that came together and brought this motion to the Senate because they felt that something was so wrong from start to finish, their resolution, their motion was not to investigate the former minister. Their motion was to investigate the former minister up to the cabinet members and the cabinet member that brought. The paper took cabinet is the prime minister. So he is not above the law. If someone, no matter who, doesn’t matter who, doesn’t matter what political party they’re from, anybody that is found liable of any type of corruption should be held to account, whether it’s the prime minister, whether it’s a former minister.”
