Saldivar, Hyde and Faber join in the debate
When the P.U.P. Party Leader concluded his contribution to the debate, the floodgates opened and the debate got fiery. The first U.D.P. member to rebut Briceño was Belmopan’s area representative John Saldivar, who took issue with the P.U.P. claiming credit for Capital two projects. Saldivar was followed by Lake I Representative Cordel Hyde who had plenty beef and the member for Collet, Patrick Faber who was full of his usual diatribe.
John Saldivar, Area Representative, Belmopan
“As I listen to the member for Orange Walk Central, I hear some of the most ridiculous criticisms of this first budget of the United Democratic Party government. Mr Speaker, this budget, as far as I am concerned, is realistic, it is pragmatic and it is accurate. And if I want to use a different for word for accurate by saying it is truthful. We are not lying to the Belizean people. We must never forget that after every single budget that the P.U.P. presented for the last ten years, the International Monetary Fund has had to complain about the accuracy of the figures and the numbers in their budget. There will be no complaints about the numbers in this budget.”
“I don’t know where this P.U.P. opposition is living and I don’t know if they expect that five years is going to be enough penance. I would want to tell you gentlemen that ten years, fifteen years is more what you can look on after the ten years of corruption, the ten years of licking that you have put on the Belizean people. They try to say now that the U.D.P. is just implementing their projects. Mr Speaker, nobody mi want to lend to this corrupt bunch before the elections. Even if there were projects which they were thinking about, when they went to these institutions to try to get money they were told no, no, no. And as soon as the U.D.P. became the government, just as we had predicted, just as we had promised, the gates began to open again.”
Cordel Hyde, Area Representative, Lake I
“I wont lament the fact the government, while in opposition, promised to lower the cost of living knowing full well that the cost of food and fuel prices were going through the roof all over the world. This was their 2008 version of free land and free education. They knew better but promised it anyway and a lot of people believed that they would, that they could lower the cost of living only to hear now that they can’t and they won’t. But that’s vintage U.D.P. Even if you seh dat, there are eleven percent of the people who are considered the poorest of the poor, the indigent. Dat dah thirty-three thousand people. if yoh divide dah two million yoh still di look pan sixty dollars. That dah just wah week ah groceries wi di talk bout, one week. So I wouldn’t go around di beat myself pan di chest dat I di deliver one week ah groceries to the poor people. Ih much betta than nothing noh? The second proposal off government to deal with the rising cost of living is the removal of G.S.T. from powdered milk, cooking oil, Vienna chicken sausages, corn beef, coffee and tea. What that means, Mr. Speaker, is that we will have to figure out how to mash corned beef, stew corn beef, bake corn beef, maybe barbeque corn beef. One ah mi bally favourite thing dah he got wah bake corn beef balls weh he like pan Sunday. Because according to unnu dat dah weh we wah have to eat everyday. We wah have to eat corn beef dah mawning, corn beef dah afternoon, corn beef dah mawning, corn beef dah afternoon, and sausage dah night. And noh any sausage, Vienna chicken sausage.”
Patrick Faber, Area Representative, Collet
“We have listened now, Mr Speaker, to two representatives from the Opposition side and we have not heard them, Mr Speaker, confess, we have not heard them talk about the sins that a member that is sitting in here today committed against this nation. We have not heard them condemning like the Belizean people have been doing for the last few weeks on the radio stations every single morning asking when he will vacate his seat in this honourable house. We have not heard that from them in their presentation, Mr Speaker. In fact, we’re hearing from the member from Independence that there was a perception of corruption, brother please. Perception of corruption? This is what has the Belizean people feeling the way they feel about you. This is the reason why you will never get power in a hurry again; because you cannot do that which my colleague was advising the then prime minister to do; to confess your sins and then you try to fix the problem. He spoke about corn beef, he spoke about Vienna chicken sausage. He will have you believe that you will have to eat corn beef everyday in different styles or varieties. What he is not telling you is that the reason why other meats were not put there is because they are already non-taxable. So you can still go out and buy chicken, you can still go out and buy beef, you can still go out and buy pork; those goods don’t carry a tax. Why would we put that in a speech and then hurrah? We are not the P.U.P.”
The debate on this year’s budget continues tomorrow when it is sure to be approved by the House.
