Prime Minister gets candid on corruption in his administration
Dean Barrow
The House of Representatives had a full agenda for its special sitting today. It is the second sitting since the start of the new year convened primarily to avoid blacklisting by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. But the big stories tonight take us outside the House where the Prime Minister took questions from the press. We start with what is perhaps one of the weakest moments for the Prime Minister. His administration has been rocked by scandal after scandal, and through it all Prime Minister Dean Barrow has remained stoic. Still embroiled in the immigration scandal, at the start of 2014, the Prime Minister was faced with the Belize Airports Authority cheque scandal, when in defense of his Minister of State, Edmond Castro; he infamously said it was distasteful, but not corrupt. Barrow has weathered it all without discernible fracture in his emotional façade. But today, outside the national assembly, the PM was a rare open book as he acknowledged the terrible toll, that the consecutive scandals, has wreaked on his administration. Barrow says that in the face of it all, he is distraught, not only on a personal level but for his party.
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Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“And there are times when indeed I feel that my troubles are being caused more by the difficulties that the behavior or the actions of some of my ministers, the difficulties that sort of behavior has resulted in. I am very worried indeed because I am absolutely convinced that the government is doing a phenomenal job with respect to the kind of public spending that I have told you about, with respect to the improvement on the quality of life, with respect to employment creation, with respect to the success against crime, with respect to being able to solve the huge issues of the day: ASR, B.S.I., the B.S.C.F.A., the super bond; matters that are extremely weighty and critical in terms of the national interest. And on that basis, I would have felt that notwithstanding the well-known difficulties of anybody trying to get a third term—and which would have to be present in any case—I would have felt that at this early juncture we would have been able to feel pretty good about where we are—delivering goods and services, making sure that people can see tangible improvements. But there is no doubt at all in my mind that the scandals have threatened to swamp us, they have threatened to cause us to come undone and naturally that is a source of great regret because to some extent, it is self-inflicted. I have been personally extremely hurt because I at the top of the pyramid run completely straight and that I believe is well known. But when indeed I have to defend or appear to be defending behavior that is the opposite of straight, my personal credibility takes a great hit.”
This is precisely the problem with delusion. This is classic “legal vs illegal corruption”. Barrow makes a distinction between the legal, nepotistic hustling of his legal friends and family vs that of the Castros and the Penners. Yes, a law degree keeps you out of jail but you are all still unethical, er, dirty. In the USA the Justice Department would have arrested all your delusional a@##. Wake up Dean, you soiled on your entire credibility a long time ago.
Bredda Barrow, u credability surely gawn da rack battam buay. i mi di look up to u fi wah serious change pappi but u fall down big time, flat pan u battam. look like u kant kerb een u ministaz. or dey gat u by di webos bekaaz unu jus have wah small margin a ministaz. I figa if u mi gat mo ministaz u wudda mi done fiya dem bad behavin boyz. ting is, jus like how u call all d pup’s dem thieves, di same ting di happen to u now pappi. wen u spit eena di sky e fall pan u face. so u da di leeda an u haf fi tek di blame paps. no feel bad wen dey now kall di udp a bunch a thieves. weh goes around komes around, today fi u tomarro fi me. dem kreole proverbs reely di fit een now.
“And there are times when indeed I feel that my troubles are being caused more by the difficulties that the behavior or the actions of some of my ministers, ”
Ali, spoken like a coy lawyer.
Yea, your 40 are not the smartest thieves, but they try hard to follow orders.
Good news on those troubles, so far they have not ratted you out.
Bad news on future troubles, It is coming. Rats usually jump from the sinking ship when deciding how many years they want to spend in prison.
So how about you, skipping the country? stare them down? little time in prison and do a political comeback? Need to change the constitution to allow convicted felons as PM, get that done before the rat trap snaps.
Barrow the straight one at the top of the pyramid? Barrow you take people for fools. You are at the pinnacle of the CORRUPTION. What about the millions given to Lois and Denys for a job the Solicitor General should have provided? How about the tens of millions of dollars in assets provided to your nephew for oil leases? How about the millions paid to your gang members for God knows what for? How about the $50 million stolen from SSB funds to invest in BTL. This could have been a paper transfer. Barrow the straight one ? Ha. ha, ha.
You must the joke straight. No one sees you in that light judas they see you as a big corrupt thief and bigot that you truly are you have been a scourge on this country under you the corruption is so vast that you all make stealing the priority of your lives . You don’t seem straight no tall you are a big thief and bigot period and you and all your ministers belong in jail.
The Cancer of Divide and Conquer, Lies, Greed, Glitter and Corruption that Barrow created within his party quickly spread throughout the halls of Government and has now reached the length and breath of this country. This cancer is Hungry, it is Systemic, it is Evil and it will ultimately destroy its own Creator.
I am not a political fanatic, and vote on who I think governs better…Fonesca as leader of the PUP would never get me vote, maybe with Johnny I would consider….wasn’t even gonna vote next election. But Dean Barrow in my mind has done more concrete things than any other prime minister and I was getting so disappointed in him until I heard this broadcast. I understand he is human and want what is best for his party….wish he would accept that his ministers failures is also his failure….BUT… If he is able to get those corrupt ministers out….he for sure has my vote!
Mr. Barrow, you “run completely straight?” Who is this statement addressed to?
@Ricky
Rick, u reely said wah mouth full bredda. u reely deh pan tap a tings. fus ting wen barro get een a powa da mi fi set up e pipple dem. u right. di lawya wid dem millians, di one dem wid btl, di adda wid petroleum ting. man man man, deh no share so di leela wans dem deh prably figa time di run out an maybe da time fi hussle too. dem boyz kudda well mi get wah nada term, wah three term but deh di mess up big time. mek a loose kanfidence eena all a dem. good ting weh di Bible seh, Trust on God only. wich eva a dem paaty, PUP o UDP wudda komit to wah dakument weh seh all thieving ministaz wah haf fi answa da kourt ah wudda hav all mi family vote fi dem. we no waan word a mouth, we waan it eena blak n white. dis yah nansense haf fi stap. weh we pikney wah hav wen dey get olda? whe wah happen to di fucha a we pikney dem? mek we hope dat ya deh integrity komishan gat integrity and da no jus wah nada name pan paper. just kaant trust eena weh deh di do deeze dayz. got no mo kanfidence eena dem no mo. di two a dem, red n blu.
Average Bzean Citizen it sounds like you have taken refuge in your fantasy world.
But I hear you on the old guard PUP, besides being egomaniacs, they can’t pull off a recall election.
The whole country is imploding and all they can do is come up with bigger Fonseca posters.
The country is leaderless, with incompetent criminals at the helm. No moral authority in the country to right the ship, looks like Belize died when Price passed. With no political talent, the future looks bleak. Face it, Belize was a given country, never had to reckon with fighting to be born. The Brits carved it out, the US concurred. And now the crooks own it, and the people are its sheeple.