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Mark Espat Calls for Sedi Elrington to Resign or Be Removed
posted (January 6, 2010)

And while the Prime Minister’s first priority today was meeting with the gangs, the Deputy Leader of The Opposition Mark Espat took it as his priority to lash out at Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington. Despite howls of protest and calls for his resignation form the KREMANDALA media group, Elrington has held steadfast to his description of the border as artificial; in fact he has amplified his commitment to the word. And that’s why the PUP Deputy leader whose party has issued no official position on the matter today came out swinging against Elrington – demanding his removal or resignation. He told us why.

Hon. Mark Espat, PUP Deputy Leader
“The Minister of Foreign Affairs has had enough time, too much time to come forward and repudiate the remarks that he had made, to say to the Belizean people listen, when I said that the border was artificial I misspoke, I spoke in error and I am sorry. On repeated occasions, Minister Elrington has refused to acknowledge the error of his mouth. What I would have expected by now is for the Foreign Minister to have said is that not only is our border real, definable, but that it is enviable and that as Foreign Minister he will be doing everything possible to ensure that the invasions that are taking place, for example in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve are halted.

But no, what Mr. Elrington has sought to do is to give us a lesson in the English language. Well that is our first language and we know what real means and we know what artificial means. And so I believe that having failed to retract, to backstep, that the Minister of Foreign Affairs should resign and if he refuses to resign, he should be made to resign because his statements and his repeated refusals to express regret has earned him the loss of confidence from the people.

The Hon. Dean Barrow has set or attempted to set a very high standard for the conduct of his Ministers. In fact he suspended a Minister for six months when one was found to be allegedly bringing beer across the border without paying taxes. He expelled another one because purportedly he did not campaign for the ruling party in the municipal elections. Here we have the Foreign Minister crossing the line on an existential threat to Belize. I believe the Prime Minister has to go further than saying this is unfortunate. This goes to the heart of his performance and therefore that is why I believe that either Minister Elrington needs to step aside, retract his statements, or if he refuses to do either of those two then I think it incumbent on the Prime Minister to act.

If you are my neighbour and you claim my property, then I can’t have my lawyer cuddling you because then I am going to become suspicious and I am going to seek a new lawyer if I have any intention of winning. We have our property. This is our 8,867 square miles. We don’t need to go to the ICJ to verify that it is an unfounded claim and I believe that the Foreign Minister of Belize, when he speaks on behalf of the Belizean people should make it absolutely clear that our borders are real, they are definable, they are enviable, and he should not be splitting hairs and trying as he is to give us a lesson in what artificial means and what real means. We know very well what it means.”

Jules Vasquez,
“If you take Mr. Elrington’s stance, to play the devil’s advocate, if you look it up in the dictionary as I have done, indeed he is right. Artificial means made by man. That is the first meaning. So why should he resign or be removed based on, he is actually right.”

Hon. Mark Espat,
“Jules Belizeans are frustrated and tired of disloyally double speak. We are tired of splitting hairs and litigating matters that should be straight forward. The issue is very simple: our border is real, the Foreign Minister should not be saying that our borders are artificial, he has shown a clear lack of political maturity in not accepting that he misspoke, back tracking and saying that is not what I meant, this is what I mean. I believe that he has no choice. If he will respect the will of the Belizean people, he should step aside from that specific portfolio.”

Espat first came out against the policies pursued by the Foreign Minister in November of 2008, before the special agreement was signed. He urged Elrington to take it to the House of Representatives for approval before it was signed. That didn’t happen. Espat has also publicly opposed taking the differendum to the International Court of Justice.

Of course, in all this, it’s not lost on us that Espat is the first PUP to hold the Albert Division which was arch – nationalist Philip Goldson’s stronghold. Elrington, on the other hand, came into politics as an N-I-P – which was Goldson’s party. So who is the real inheritor of the Goldson legacy? Espat deflected comparisons – as any PUP politician must, while Elrington has recently claimed common cause with the national hero.

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