Barrow criticises B.E.L. decision on light poles

In related news, today Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow also commented on his party’s decision to paint campaign propaganda on lampposts after Belize Electricity Limited explicitly told both parties that they are prohibited from using the company’s poles for election posters and banners.

Dean Barrow
“I think quite honestly, B.E.L. is out of order. This is a tradition. B.E.L. can point, in my view, to no compelling reason for this edict. If we are going to get like that, they have their posts erected on public property that’s under the jurisdiction of the council. Is the U.D.P. to turn around and have its Council say to them, well you are going to have to pay fees for the fact that your posts are on the streets? No, because they would pass that on to the consumer and nobody wants that. But the argument of B.E.L. that there are safety concerns that are involved, I don’t think a soul accepts. I don’t know what it is that’s caused them to start with this overbearing attitude, but the fact is the poles do belong to them so I suppose to that extent they must be respected. However, they spoke of signs, they spoke about banners; they didn’t say anything about painting.”