UDP Politics as Usual…

Charles Good dead at 62…

On Tuesday morning at around 4:55am Belizean patriot Charles Good passed away alone at the KHMH. His wife had gone home with the kids to help them with their homework and to put them to bed. She was called at 4:00am and told that her husband wasn’t feeling well. By the time she got to the hospital at about 5:00am her husband had already passed away. Charles Good was a man who spent his entire life serving our nation and protecting our sovereignty. He spent his last days defending his wife and family and all those who have been victimized by the United Democratic Party. Charles Good and his family were disrespected by the government. Charles Good was disrespected and roughed up by the armed forces. Even now, the memory of Charles Good is being disrespected by the media which has just brushed by the story and moved on. The story of Charles and Hirian Good deserves more than that. All right thinking Belizeans should come out to honour Charles Good as he is laid to rest this Saturday…he was a true Belizean hero!

………………….

Remember Atanacio…

As the family of Charles Good prepares to lay him to rest, the tragedy brings to mind another case – that of cane-farmer Atanacio Felix Gutierrez. He was shot by law enforcement officials on February 2^nd, eight months ago, after Prime Minister Dean Barrow ordered the troops to do whatever it took and to use whatever force necessary to move the cane-farmers. In the course of standing up for his rights, Atanacio Gutierrez was shot in the head. He left behind a widow and six children. Prime Minister Dean Barrow has yet to offer his condolences to the family. Government has yet to offer any assistance to the widow and her six children. Despite repeated pleas for a commission of inquiry or at least some sort of investigation, there has been no response from this cold and uncaring Government. So I guess we shouldn’t expect the Prime Minister of this nation to pay a visit to the widow Good anytime soon. Some people just don’t have any heart. It makes me wonder why he wanted the job of leading the nation in the first place. Didn’t the Prime Minister realize that leading the nation meant serving the nation?

………………..

Let’s talk about crime…

This week the Police released their statistics on crime and, no surprise to any, the head honchos over at national security still want us to believe that all is well in this glorious UDP utopia. Apparently all the murders and home invasions and jacking and shooting and knifing and robberies and rapes are all just a ‘perception.’ A lot of things happening today would be funny if they weren’t so serious. On Love FM the other night, they ran the story of the ‘lower’ crime statistics, and the story immediately after was the Principal’s Association talking about how crime is completely out of control. The business community is crying out for help, mothers are crying on the news every night, Belizeans are afraid to walk the streets after dark – even in our homes we are not safe. But the UDP says we are living in a good country and so all that must be figments of our imagination. Hell, the Police can’t even keep Carlos Perdomo safe. His office was broken into recently. And he says crime is down. What will it take for the UDP to get the sense? Our streets are already stained with blood. What more will it take?

………………..

Tropical Storm Ida…

As I write this, Ida is a tropical storm crossing over Nicaragua. The forecast is that the storm will weaken over land but very likely strengthen as it gets back over open water. If it veers a little to the east of its forecast track, it could hit Belize, either as a tropical storm or a hurricane. As it is, the prediction is for heavy rain over the next few days. Those rains have already started. Something that comes immediately to mind is this – every time there is more than a day of sustained rains in the south, the Kendall Bridge and the Middlesex Bridge become impassible. This means that the south will be entirely cut off from the rest of the country. I would hope NEMO is taking all that into consideration, but judging from past performance I’m a little worried about how NEMO will handle any sort of disaster. See, Belizeans never used to worry about tropical storms none, but under the UDP seven lives were lost during tropical storm Arthur two years ago in June. So forgive me if I express a distinct lack of confidence. Another thing comes to mind. Those who want to criticize the past PUP administration should be very cognizant of something – under the PUP there were at least three early disasters – Hurricanes Mitch and Iris and Tropical Storm Chantal and Hurricane Dean late in the PUP term. The recovery from these storms was nothing short of phenomenal. The destruction in the wake of these disasters left Belizeans wondering if the nation would ever recover. But recover we did. Compare that to the UDP recovery from Tropical Storm Arthur. Today, more than two years after the Kendall Bridge was washed away, there is still no adequate bridge at Kendall. Image that…!

………………..

GOB’s priorities…

The Minister of Health just took ownership of a brand new late model Landcruiser Prado valued at $160,000. This was done just a couple days before Prime Minister Dean Barrow got up and told the nation that our economy is in recession and there are dark days ahead. The Minister of Health took possession of his vehicle at a time when our public hospitals are without even the most basic equipment or medical supplies. Epidemics are crippling our workforce at an unprecedented level. Children are still dying in our hospitals. Patients with renal failure cannot access dialysis because the treatment is too expensive and the government says it is broke and can’t subsidize anymore. So how can the Prime Minister explain this vehicle at a time when learned people are saying that we are experiencing the worst times every? Am I the only one who thinks that the priorities of this government are a little, or actually a whole lot skewed?

…………………

He just doesn’t know…

A longtime Good Samaritan and Belizean stalwart visited my office this week to tell me a story. She told me how she was walking in the Mahogany Street extension when she saw two children in a yard, dressed in ragged clothing. They were trembling. But, she told me, it was an extremely warm day. So she went up to these children and their mother came out and explained that the children were hungry because they had no food to eat. So our Good Samaritan went to the nearby grocery and got two pack bread and some milk and returned to the home. She said that she almost cried as she watched the children pounce on the food. The little that was left was eaten by the mother, who was also hungry. As the children ate, they stopped trembling. The story brought tears to my eyes. As we continued our conversation, the Prime Minister of this nation entered our thoughts, and while I tend to be very uncharitable in my comments on Dean Oliver, my companion offered another opinion. He just doesn’t know, she said. He just doesn’t know. After she left I thought about it and realized that it is true. The Prime Minister does not know how it feels to be so hungry that you tremble. He does not know how it feels to go to bed hungry and wake up hungry. He does not know how it feels to live with no hope and no knowledge of where the next meal or money is coming from. See, our Prime Minister lives in a mansion by the sea. He just built a huge expansion on his home. He can fly around the world with nary a concern and wear Armani suits and buy diamonds for his new wife. His bank account is bulging at the seams. Dean Oliver Barrow does not realize how people are living out here.

| | | | | |