7 News Belize

PUP Retracts Support For “Restore”
posted (June 23, 2010)
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Dean Barrow went to the office of the leader of the opposition to discuss Project Restore Belize. The two appeared after in a cozy post-meeting interview, with Briceno declaring a very general, non specific support for the initiative within the context of restoring law and order. The Prime Minister committed to keep him in the loop and the pair issued a joint statement. A rare, almost historic show of bipartisanship...but, alas, it was short lived.

At the time, the opposition leader did make clear that he had to take the full Restore Belize project outline to his executive. He did that today, and it seems, he was shot down. A statement issued by the PUP today takes a very different tack from the Briceno Barrow love-fest of two weeks ago. It says that,

"The policies of the present administration have added to the causes of crime by increasing poverty and unemployment." It adds, bitterly,

"Now the.... Prime Minister...is calling for a bipartisan approach to restoring Belize. Yet...he allows his party's newspaper to mock the PUP Leader for agreeing to meet with the Prime Minister on....'Restore Belize.;"

That last jab refers to the Guardian headline following the meeting which was captioned, "Briceno follows true leadership..."

And while that's the political rhetoric, there's no mention on whether the opposition will refuse the seats that the Prime Minister has offered them on all six subcommittees which will steer the Restore Belize initiative.

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