Both Penner and Barrow came under fire by Former Prime Minister, Said Musa

Said Musa

Corruption was very much at the forefront of Wednesday’s House meeting. The Castro checks situation was front and center, but with Elvin Penner’s sudden and unexpected resurrection, he came under sustained fire as well. The man with the bazooka in hand was no other than former Prime Minister Said Musa, who is usually on the receiving end of the artillery. But as he said in the House, he can give as good as he gets, and he was in fine form. And when he finished with Penner, he turned on PM Barrow for good measure.

Said Musa, Member for Fort George

“The teachers are raising a concern about what is this government doing, they are in the classrooms trying to teach the children right from wrong. They are asking the question, here we have a blinding case of corruption in government, where a minister, a former minister of state not only signed a recommendation for a passport, for a man languishing in jail in Taiwan, who never set foot in Belize, but also sign a nationality certificate. That is matter of public record Mr. Speaker. And the teachers want to know how can this government and this Prime Minister, who appointed those ministers to sign those nationality certificates, realizing now that this minister, he obviously realized it because he fired him from cabinet. Why is he stopping there? Why are he and his government preventing a senate inquiry into this matter? Why are they covering up for Elvin Penner? That is what the teachers want to know. I am only reflecting what the teachers are saying, what the Belizean people are saying. It is eating them up because they really expected better, they expected better from this government and from this Prime Minister in particular. He stood up for transparency and accountability. He has attacked me and this side of the house saying that he is not like me…he is for transparency and accountability. The teachers want to know, why you are Mr. Prime Minster. Why are you covering up now? Why are you covering up corruption right in your face? Right in the face of the Belizean people that’s what they want to know.”