Barrow vows to keep pressure on Musa, P.U.P.
We’ve covered nearly every meeting of the House of Representatives since 1992, including some that more closely resembled street brawls than legislative sessions. But the tone of today’s gathering on Independence Hill was particularly ugly, reflecting—depending on your point of view—ten years of frustration or plain bad manners. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports from Belmopan.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“You are dead, dead, dead politically but you wah continue the punishment because you deserve it. It is condign punishment.”
Mark Espat, Albert Area Rep
“I let him get off earlier with two very serious comments that … we’re in the House; if we were in the streets it would be different but I will allow him to get away with that in here.”
Said Musa, Fort George Area Rep
“They can’t take criticism. They know how to attack people but they can’t take criticism. Mister Speaker, Mister Speaker here we are resulting to insults and offensive language totally contrary to the standing orders of this House. They can’t take it when you tell them the truth about what is happening.”
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“Tell us about the agreement. Tell us about all those clauses you put in there, how you betrayed the Belizean people you worthless, thieving son of a b****.”
Said Musa
“I will not be intimidated Mister Speaker. I want him to know this and I want all the members to know this. I will stand here because the people of the Fort George put me here to defend their interest and when I see that matter threatened I will speak out.”
That was the tone set in this morning’s House of Representatives as the Government and Opposition met in the second business meeting since February’s General Elections. The barbs were especially pointed at former Prime Minister Said Musa and according Prime Minister Dean Barrow, will become the standing operating procedure.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“And I make no apologies for that. I will not get up and violate the rules of the House but in terms of the remarks–that again, we understand is part of the whole parliamentary back and forth—the remarks that I will make sitting here, from my seat so as not to offend you, Mister Speaker, or the rules of the House, there will be no restraint because that member for Fort George I consider to have betrayed the Belizean in serial ways, in multiple ways. The record is there how just as heedless and just as indecent he has been as Prime Minister of this country. And this is still an unfolding tale. More and more stuff is coming out. I don’t think he has a clue as to how hated and reviled and disgusted he is in this nation. And it’s not personal; it’s because of what he has done. We’re grappling with all those—I can’t even call them contracts—all those betrayals that he signed. Anyway Mister Speaker, let me content myself in saying that him, I will give no quarter.”
And stinging statements emerged again as the parliamentarians discussed amendments to the Referendum Act. According to Fort George Representative Said Musa, an application for judicial review has been filed in the Supreme Court against the proposed changes.
Said Musa
“How can the Prime Minister call this a reform measure, it is more a deform measure affecting the rights of the people. The amendment is not only anti-democratic, it is a sinister ploy, like I said, to set the stage for the government to be able to abridge citizens’ rights by amending the Constitution with their three-fourths majority without allowing the people to express their opinion on the matter. It is not good enough to say that you will have consultation. The best consultation is to hold the referendum. That is the best consultation.”
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“Obviously, he is either a fraud or a fool. If you go to court with that, you will be met with the argument of pre-maturity. Yoh know weh dat mean? Yoh can’t challenge it before ih pass. Yoh have to wait till ih pass then you can go to court and say when you measure it against the Constitution, it is unconstitutional. But not only is this law not unconstitutional, what it is doing is removing the unconstitutionality that was there before, put there by you. Man look yah, unlike you, now that I am here I really am serious about trying to do the business of the nation. I noh got time fi di … I don’t have time to be having to take you and your colleagues to school.”
Mark Espat
“I want to put the Prime Minister and his Government on notice as it becomes clear that the changes to this referendum act were designed to allow future changes to the fundamental rights and freedoms and shrines in our Constitution and to do so without going to the people by way of a referendum, that we intend to be part of that vocal minority he anticipated at the last meeting, a minority which he may soon discover will become a vocal majority.”
Patrick Faber, Collet Area Rep
“Mr. Speaker I can tell you that there were concerns about some of these changes that will be made to the Constitution by members of our own party. And the Prime Minister made it clear that we should not be afraid, we should not be hesitant to make these changes of indeed we are serious about good governance and if indeed we do not have criminal intentions as was the case in the previous government. And so Mister Speaker, we proudly present these bills; that of the Referendum Act and that of the Freedom of Information Act Mister Speaker. We proudly bring these forward and we will bring back that bill for the Constitutional Amendment at a later date because of the ninety day waiting period. But we are very proud of these bills and we urge those on the other side to support us for true reform.”
Johnny Briceño, Leader of the Opposition
“The idea of allowing the Belizean people the ability and the right to be able to hold a referendum is certainly a good one. It’s a good start but we are concerned that they are removing the issue of amending the rights of the Belizean people and also I believe that the government should also look at the possibility of making it little bit easier and I’m not saying so easy that it is going to be frivolous and anybody can hold a referendum at any time. But that the government should look into these issues and the very least that whenever we hold a referendum, that the government should be bind by the wishes of the Belizean people.”
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“We can put in the word binding if you wish. That’s not a problem. Look, I am not like your ex leader you know. I am serious when I bring these things to the House and to the people. I noh di play games. Da no me da di deceitful one, da noh me ker di Belizean people all round di mulberry bush. So we can put in the word binding if you wish but it is here that it is valid when it is passed when you reach the threshold.”
The debate about the alterations to Freedom on Information Act, which includes exposing all previously secret contracts, was just as colourful.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“To invalidate secrecy provisions in public contracts and I’m looking directly at the member for Fort George, to reduce the categories of exempt documents, to penalize unreasonable refusal or failure to provide access to public documents, and to provide for matters connected there with or incidental there to. Mister Speaker, this bill, as I indicated on the earlier occasion, arises a direct consequence, I don’t want to … let me just say a direct consequence of the various contract signed by the ex Prime Minister starting with the U.H.S. loan guarantee that contained provisions designed not just to conceal these contracts—worthless, nefarious, pernicious, contracts—not just designed to conceal from the Belizean people, but to ensure that no matter how hard the Belizean people tried—even if the got wind of the contract—they would be prevented from ever seeing the terms and conditions.”
Michael Finnegan, Mesopotamia Area Rep
“Ten years later, we are brave and we are courageous enough to admit our shortfalls and we are now prepared to correct them. We are prepared to correct them and to use the Freedom Of Information Act in the interest of the people and nation of Belize and not in the interest of politicians who want to run shady and corrupt business in Government.”
Said Musa
“All you will hear is excuses and blames, blaming the previous administration for all the problems facing Belize today. They must not forget they are the Government and the people elected them indeed with an overwhelming mandate to provide solutions, not to continue whining. That’s what they did. Not to continue whining and victimizing people. The Prime Minister has gone on record as saying he has no apology to offer for the many people who have lost their jobs, for the many hundreds of people that this government has victimize in less than a hundred days. This is the order of things he says; this is the order of things today. So yes, they can attack me in this House and wherever they want to but the bottom line is that the Belizean people out there are waiting for them to act, to deal with their issues, to deal with their issues such as the high cost of living. That’s what the Belizean people are waiting for them to act on. So go ahead mister Prime Minister. Well, I know that they talking about jail and all that. Clearly this government intends to use all its political clout to try and jail me, to try and jail me to the extent that they’ve gone as far as buy off the Director of Public Prosecutions to get him out of the way. This is what they have done. It shows that they will stop at nothing. They will stop at nothing Mister Speaker—and I put this on the record because we know what is going on man. But bear in mind that I will not be intimidated mister Prime Minister. You can come with all your threats and you can make all your moves. I will not be intimidated, I will speak my mind and I will speak what I believe to be in the best interest of the people of Fort George and the Belizean people.”
While the representatives agreed that crime requires urgent attention, the Opposition members questioned the declaration of “special crime ridden areas” and the controversial preventative detention bill.
Cordel Hyde, Lake Independence Area Rep
“I think we really have to careful here. There is no evidence anywhere in the world that suggests that longer jail terms reduce crime. In fact, all the data shows that longer jail terms are expensive. Studies show that locally it cost forty-two hundred dollars to house a prisoner for a year versus twelve hundred dollars there about to send a child to high school. I noh di quarrel yoh know. Longer jail terms never really rehabilitate anyone also. In fact, it even becomes harder to reintegrate those ex offenders back into society because unless they die in custody, they all come back to society. Longer jail terms leads to the mass warehousing of young men. In this case it would be young black men. When it comes to cold blooded murderers and young men who kill each other for the heck of it, I support wholehearted any effort to bring anything to bear on them. I’m tired of seeing our mothers crying on the news every night but I’m afraid that these proposed amendments cast too wide a net. The good will get swept up with the bad and we all know who fits the profile.”
Francis Fonseca, Freetown Area Rep
“All of us in this House have to be concerned about crime and all of us have to be committed to do everything we can to address this growing crime situation in our towns and cities. But while all Belizeans are prepared, Mister Speaker, to make reasonable sacrifices in the fight against crime and violence; we all want to live in peace with each other, we should never take for granted these fundamental rights and freedoms which are enshrined in our Constitution. We must jealously guard and protect those rights and freedoms Mr. Speaker.”
Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Port Loyola Area Rep
“And we said openly at the meeting where the police were at the committee meeting that we are honoured by making the necessary steps but we want the honour from you to make sure that we take care of citizens in the right way. And I think on that note I’ll ask members of this National Assembly to support this bull, I thinks that it’s a way forward and we are supplementing it by making sure that we’re dealing with the Cadet Corp and the C.Y.D.P. projects so that there are not only tough penalties for criminal activity, but we are saying to young people let us get together, let us be positive and let us move on. And I thank you.”
The amendments to the Referendum and Freedom of Information Acts both passed second readings today. Also introduced in the House for the first time was a bill to decentralise the registration and licensing of vehicles, traffic management and control from the Government’s Department of Transport to municipal bodies. Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.
Today Prime Minister Barrow also announced that the national consultations on the budget officially began on Monday and will include a series of meetings with civil society. Those talks will climax with a one day symposium that P.M. Barrow will chair, which has tentatively been set for June ninth.
