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After the weekend’s acts of public terror on the tail of the carnival, the opposition has weighed in on the burning public issue. The Leader of the Opposition says he’s willing to work with government to come up with a solution, but we asked him if he is making politics “outta serious thing.”

Jules Vasquez,
Are you all trying to make politics out of crime and the second thing, it’s often been said, but it has to be said, that you all had ten years to fix it and you didn’t fix it?

Hon. Johnny Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
“The fact is that on the 7th of February the people of this country decided that they wanted to take a different course and they have done so. They were very clear in that so the new government before coming into office, you know we’re talking about the ‘imagining the possibilities,’ talking crime and this theory of 360 degrees, and we have seen that in the past 7 months that 360 degrees is not working out.

My concern as I see, and I was listening to the Prime Minister very keenly in his interview last night, he is a trained lawyer, among the best lawyers in the country and his immediate reaction is that we have to strengthen the law, we have to pass more laws. But it is not only about going after the criminals but also going after the causes of crime, why these people go into a life of crime and I believe that one of the best ways, and anywhere you go they will tell you it is the issue with education. I believe that it is time for us to look at southside Belize City, and I also need to quickly add that we have poverty in Orange Walk, in the Orange Walk District in Orange Walk Central. But in Belize City southside, that is where you have the biggest pockets of crime that is taking place and some hideous crimes, some unthinkable crimes have been taking place in that area that twenty or thirty years ago we wouldn’t have talked about but now it is taking place. Obviously these young kids, and if you look at the statistics the criminals are getting younger, so obviously we need to do something drastic. I am talking about let us set aside $50 million for the next five years and go into southside, start with the southside, and make sure that every child goes to school from the age of at least 16 and below, from pre-school to sixth form, making sure if you can’t get your books, let us get your books. You must be in school and if you can’t pay your tuition, you can’t pay your fees, then we are going to pay for your fees. You can’t get your plate of food, we will give you a plate of food. You don’t have no where to study, we’re going to set up study centres in the evenings so that after classes you fix up some parks and playgrounds so they can go and play a little and then after that go do your homework and then you go home before you go to school. I believe if we could keep these young boys and girls in schools that by the time they come out from sixth form, they will come out with a different set of values than a child who had no opportunity, couldn’t go to school, wanted to go to school, but for whatever reason couldn’t go to school.”

Jules Vasquez,
Southside crime, those are easy targets and you as an outsider from the city because you don’t live in the city and you’ve never lived in the city.

Hon. Johnny Briceno,
“I lived for two years in sixth form.”

Jules Vasquez,
It is easy to say that it is a southside problem but when you really have no cognizance, no awareness of how intractable and profound many of the problems, the devil in the southside, how much they are created by things outside the southside, are you just playing target practice with the problem?

Hon. Johnny Briceno,
“I disagree with you. We need to start where we have the biggest problems. We have problems of crime in the Orange Walk District, in Orange Walk Town but it is nowhere as pronounced as what we have in southside Belize City and also we need to understand that what you have in southside, you will have this spill over effect. If the police is just going in that area just to police the area and try to suppress these kids, what are the kids going to do, they are going to cross the river and go into north side Belize City or they are going to go to Orange Walk Town or they are going to go to Corozal or to Belmopan and do what they have to do and come back home. So I believe we need to go where we have the biggest problems first in souhside of Belize City and do something about it, do something positive. It is not only about locking up people but also creating opportunities for them. And I am not saying it ends there, it starts there.”