Email

Print

So, we turn now to today’s budget debate in the House of Representatives that wasn’t really a budget debate. 

Both the Barrow Administration and the Opposition PUP have decided to cooperate and pass the General Revenue Appropriation Bill for the fiscal year 2020/2021 without any drama. This same Bill allowed the Government to seek parliamentary approval to borrow those 25 million dollars in relief funds that the Prime Minister has promised to the tourism stakeholders, while the global economy melts under COVID-19.

As we told you, there is usually a lot of political mudslinging at budget debates. But it was decided that for this debate, only Opposition Leader John Briceno would give his presentation and that there would be no response or rebuttal from the Government’s side.

Briceno had the floor for just over 60 minutes, and although his comments were generally about bi-partisanship, he did throw in a few minor jabs at the Barrow Administration. Here’s an excerpt of his remarks from today:

Hon. John Briceno - Leader of the Opposition
"Today, our nation is facing a serious crisis. Like the rest of the world, Belizeans must be united in our efforts. In times of national crisis, our response cannot be a PUP or UDP response. It cannot be us against them, or our side against those on the other side. To appropriately deal with the unset of the coronavirus in our country, everyone must now come together the way we do when one of our national teams take the field. It must be 1 effort for team Belize."

"And yet, as we work together to address this COVID-19 pandemic, the People’s United Party cannot neglect our constitutional responsibility to this nation. So that even at this time, when the call for national resolve and unity is most desired, we must fulfil our civic obligation, even if greatly curtailed by the magnitude of the moment. We, therefore, come before the nation today, fully aware that on any other occasion, our response to the resumption of the debate in the general revenue and appropriation bill would have been robust, one befitting of an election year budget. All of us were ready to make the case that after 3 terms in office, the current UDP administration has accumulated a report card that would indicate that for sure, over 1 billion dollars in revenues from oil and from Petrocaribe funds were recklessly squandered. For sure, in 12 years, our national debt has been doubled. For sure, the last 12 years have been the most violent years in our nation’s history. And sure, the last 12 years have seen an alarming rise in poverty in Belize. Madam Speaker, we on this side believe that a budget should be a vision for the future, that good budgets should be ambitious, like our Belizean people are ambitious. A good budget should be a true reflection of the hopes and aspirations of an administration that understands the concerns and needs of the people they were elected to serve. And so, even these in these troubling days, we on this side, declare a sincere commitment to the kind of governance that will result in a decade of progress. Our first commitment to the Belizean people is that the next PUP government will bring about the necessary reforms to stop obscene corruption forever. We will put people first by providing real free education to all our children, and roll out NHI for every Belizean man, woman, and child."