Christopher Glancy, Bishop Roman Catholic Diocese
"For 35 years the people of belie have elected numerous governments to act on our behalf and rule the nation."

"Sometimes God of justice we have used our sovereign power to steal from the poor and the powerless. Those in power have fixed the scales and use the system to personal advantage, ultimately cheating the nation of its limited resources for the gain of a few."

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan
"Now I won't stand before you in some idealistic bout of naïveté, pretend that all is well and good. We have our fair share of challenges. But I am confident that as those before us have, we will meet and overcome them, so that future generations of Belizeans have the same opportunity and prosperity that you and I have."

Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"No, we cannot allow our spirits to sink because so much has gone wrong. We have never feared the future, for we are a people who lived in hope and in the conviction that God willing, there are brighter days ahead and Belizeans like the Auditor General, give us hope, our teachers give us hope, our children in the farthest corners of our nation gives us hope."

"We who choose to offer ourselves as political and civic leaders must never forget that our work should not be about personal gains, but about service to others, particularly the poor and disadvantage. The sense of arrogance and entitlement we see in too many of our leaders creates a hurdle to our social and economic development."

"If we are to be honest, then we must recognized that too much of the greed and selfish behavior we see being displayed by those in high office is hindering our development and we must take the necessary actions to put a stop to it."

"I know some of you may question whether this is the occasion or such plain speech. Others may go further to question whether I or the party I represent possess the moral authority to speak of such things on such a day. I reply with an emphatic yes. Was it not our national hero Phillip Goldson who said "that the time to save your country is before you lose it?" Are we not a nation currently at risk and in the midst of an economic social and moral recession?"

"True it can be said that during the last PUP administration all was not right, but neither were we all wrong. Yes, we all share blame for those things that have gone so wrong. No one is immune or innocent. None of us is without sin, but we cannot fic what is wrong unless together we recognized the causes and do the right thing. We must fix it."

Rt., Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"This year's September Celebrations came at a time of great division in our country."

"The tug of war between the Ruling and Opposition parties has become more contentious. The Labour movement has also been beset by a degree of factionalism."

"Things, then, have gone way beyond the natural ferment, the expected clang and clamor of a young, developing Democracy."

"And the economic backdrop to it all is, at this time, a complicating factor since we are experiencing a recession caused by the vagaries of the commodities cycle: agricultural sector disease, the drying up of our petroleum resources, and the crash in global prices. It is, of course, a recession made worse by Hurricane Earl. But it is also a recession from which, I must say at once, we will absolutely recover."

"My confidence today, then, is for a full return, by the start of the next fiscal year, to GDP growth and financial system normalcy. But that confidence is marred by one thing: fear of that other hurricane called the SuperBond. So I will say just this. If it is the last thing I do before I leave office, I will solve once and for all that problem."

The Prime Minister's speech was 21 minutes long, while Briceno's was 15 and a half minutes.