And while Shyne is the headline act tomorrow at the MCC - today in Belmopan his father, Prime Minister Dean Barrow should have had the headline today but that was stolen by the wild rage of Orange Walk East Representative, Marcel Cardona.
That had the effect of dominating the theater at today's meeting - and - at an hour long - it also pushed back the prime minister's speech until late in the evening.
It finished after 5:30 and we just got our tape to the city a short while ago - and put together a few sections form the Prime Minister as he savaged the Leader of The opposition, likening him to a walking corpse:
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"This must be the first time in recorded memory that a leader of the opposition in Belize gives his official response in the house to the National budget and is boycotted for the entire world to see by his deputies. For, Mr. Speaker, which is exactly what it, was a boycott of the leader of the opposition by his most senior people in parliament. Now we all know that the two gentlemen are conscientious. Their willingness, therefore, to shirk their duties to the house, to the nation, and in fact to their constituents, just to make a point, shows the utter contempt in which they hold the leader of the opposition. The truth is, Mr. Speaker, that he is widely disparaged, indeed reviled in the PUP. So here are questions for you, Mr. Leader of the Opposition. How can you want to lead the nation, when you can't when you can't even lead your own party? (Applause) When will you "man up" and show that you can take charge and impose discipline, instead of continuing to be this arch-compromiser, this "lily-livered" weakling, afraid of your own shadow? None of us over here wants to see the Leader of the Opposition, and you know why? Because he, as leader of the opposition, is the greatest electoral asset that UDP has. (Applause) His leadership of the Opposition is absolutely all we need to guarantee our second term. That is how
hapless and hopeless he is. He reminds me of the legend of the Christian martyr. I know my friend - he was a Catholic Martyr, so perhaps my friend, the Minister of Education, would be familiar with him. This Christian martyr, San Denis, is the Patron of the City of Paris. The story was that after he was beheaded, he continued to go about cradling his own cranium. Well assuredly, the Leader of the Opposition is no saint. But politically, he is certainly a decapitated corpse walking around, carrying his own head in his hands. But, Mr. Speaker, let me turn to the substance, such as there was, of the Leader of Opposition's speech. I did take some offense to, though, at his presuming to instruct me. Now, Mr. Speaker, there are many people in this life that can instruct me, but the Leader of the Opposition is not one (of them). (Applause) For the only expertise of his that i can see, is his knowledge of how to divert monies paid for public lands, so that they end up in Ministerial Pockets, instead of in the Consolidated Revenue Fund. But he really plumbed the depth when he resorted to outright lies in, for example, talking about the Government's removal of the GST from fuel. He said that this would increase Government's tax take, which makes him either a fool or knave, either a dunce or a liar! We produced the tables on the last occasion, and let me repeat, Mr. Speaker. The new price, if we had left on the GST, for premium would have been $11.69 a gallon. For regular, it would have been $11.39, for kerosene, $9.43, and $10.81 for diesel. Because GOB - because we took off the GST and replaced it with a lower import duty, the price now, for premium instead of that 11.69, is $11.40 per gallon, a saving off 29 cents. For regular, instead of $11.39, it's $11.12."
As per tradition the prime minister's presentation wound up the debate.
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