Leader of Opposition speaks on the Marcel meltdown and truth

In an interview with News Five late Wednesday evening, Minister Faber said that the U.D.P. did not wish for Cardona to sit on the government side.  But neither can he sit on the side of the opposition since he has not crossed the floor.   So, how does the opposition People’s United Party weigh in on this?  Party leader, John Briceño says Cardona merely amplified the points that the P.U.P. has been highlighting all along.

John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition

“It is obvious that the Prime Minister and his government were severely damaged and they were embarrassed during the budget debate last week Friday when Mister Cardona started to show the many ills and difficulties and almost the chanciness as we’d say in Kriol, that has been taking place in his government, and as to how he has been singled out and how he has been punished because he has not bowed down to the wishes of the Deputy Prime Minister.  And here was Mister Cardona crying out for help for his people.  He’s saying that he’s not getting the help, he can’t get his feeder roads fixed, he can’t get land for his people, he can’t get land surveyed, he can’t get culverts for his area, he can’t get jobs, he’s saying his people don’t have jobs, and that things continue to get worse for the people of Orange Walk East.  Mister Cardona, what he was really doing was the job of an area representative.  It is important that Mister Cardona as a back-bencher is not legally required to support the budget.  Only if you’re a member of the Cabinet then you have to support the budget.  If you can’t support the budget as a member of the Cabinet then you have to resign.  What he said was that while he cannot support the budget, he was not going to vote against the budget.  He decided he was going to abstain.”

Marion Ali

John Briceño

“But this must mean a lot of political mileage for a very damaged and recuperating P.U.P.”

John Briceño

“Well, from our end what we said and what we continue to repeat, that what Mr Cardona was saying was that those are the very issues that we have been bringing out – the lack of jobs, the issue of the economy, the issue of crime, the issue that the government does not have a plan, the issue of goods and services, for example, in Orange Walk Central, we’re singled out.  We don’t get any help from the government.  Here is one representative from the United Democratic Party, pointing out the ills of his government, pointing out how his government has deceived the Belizean people.  And if it’s one of them saying it then the Belizean people will have to believe it.  Actually we’re living through it.”

As to the speculation that he will join the P.U.P., Briceño says everyone is welcome to his party. We note that the P.U.P. has not yet elected a standard bearer for the Orange Walk East division but neither has Cardona resigned from the U.D.P.