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Briceno and Barrow: One Year, Two Visions
Thu, January 2, 2025
Turning now to politics, if you've been watching the news tonight and on New Year's Eve you would have seen the Prime Minister's New Year's Message. And in somewhat less grand fashion we've also seen the address from the Leader of the Opposition via WhatsApp...
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Turning now to politics, if you've been watching the news tonight and on New Year's Eve you would have seen the Prime Minister's New Year's Message.

And in somewhat less grand fashion we've also seen the address from the Leader of the Opposition via WhatsApp.

Now, it should be a big deal - after all this is the address for what is surely going to be a year of election.

So, how did they do? Did they rise to the occasion? Well, not quite. But we picked out some key moments and put them up side by side:

John Briceno
"Our people are working, earning higher incomes, paying less taxes, living in safer communities, benefiting from improved education and healthcare. And believing for the first time in a generation that opportunity and hope match their ambitions."

"Yes, poverty has been fast compared to 2018, but any reason that is poor is one too many. Yes, thousands of housing and farming plots have been awarded, but this government's push to place valuable titled land in the hands of first time landowners will not relent."

"2025 will witness the construction start of the new state of the art tertiary care hospital in Belmopan that will elevate public healthcare to new levels of excellence. And the new year will bring the final phase in the realization of a truly national health insurance program so that every Belizean, including residents of the district, benefit from free public health care."

Shyne Barrow
"Despite our economy continuing to contract, poverty continuing unabated with the middle class eroding, we witnessed the gap between rich and poor increasing to unprecedented levels. This PUP government has had the highest inflation rates ever."

"UNCAC has been abandoned by this PUP government, with corruption at an all time high under the John Briceno administration, underpinned by bloated infrastructure contracts that go to one favored contractor."

"This new year gives us the opportunity to take our country back, to rescue Belize from the vicious punishment of the People's United Party. The UDP will do better, and that is why we enter the New Year with optimism."

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