The Barrow-cuda Feeding Frenzy

By: Mike Rudon Jr.

While the name of ‘Belize’s royal elite’ lends itself most spectacularly to the voracious and opportunistic predators of the seas, the feeding frenzy taking place at the public trough reminds me more of sharks driven to mindless gluttony by the bloody chum being thrown into the water. Substitute cash and power for the chum, and the thing is there’s really no difference between ravenous sharks and the Barrow-cudas who are presently gorging themselves on all they can get. Seriously, it’s sickening.

Our economy is in a damned recession here. Our people are starving. Our streets are littered with the homeless. Each week in the newspapers people are losing the roofs over their heads. Children are going to bed hungry. Businesses are closing down. People are losing their jobs each and every week. What part of this dismal equation does Dean Barrow and his family not understand? There they are, gorging on the little that is left in the public trough. Hell! That really pisses me off.

Like take the Westerhaven case, for example. In case you don’t remember, in January a cargo ship damaged a portion of Belize’s reef when it ran aground in bad weather. It turns out that Government wants to get its greedy little hands on $36 million in damages. That’s right, 36 huge ones. Fine, we can live with that – whatever. But then we take a closer look and realize that GOB’s attorney in the Westerhaven case is none other than Deanne Barrow. Her name is no coincidence. She is the daughter of Prime Minister Dean Barrow and his first wife/second lady Lois. Then we look a little closer, and realize that the lawyer’s take on this case is usually a standard 10%, which means that the Barrow Princess will be holding onto a very cushy $3.6 million plum, thanks to daddy Dean.

What the hell? Aren’t there any other lawyers in the country who can represent the Government in anything? Did a memo go out which says that only the Prime Minister’s ex-wife and daughter can handle cases for government? Sure seems like it. It took the ex-wife of the Prime Minister just a little over a year to grab hold of $1.3 million taxpayer dollars. Who knows how much more she has gotten a hold of now? In addition, the much favoured ex-wife of the PM is the chair of the SSB, on the Board of Directors of BTL and allegedly the non-resident High Commissioner to the United Kingdom – all paid positions and all thanks to her apparently much enamoured ex-beau.

Just to draw a quick parallel here for context (and there are so many) just so you know why I’m so pissed off whenever I reflect on sober occasions, I happened to get a quick look at the latest Cabinet briefing released just yesterday. Apparently the UDP Cabinet has decided to allocate the princely sum of $40,000 to our youth of Belize. That $40,000 will be split up to ‘upgrade’ twenty (20) sporting facilities. You wanna do the math? Okay then. Let me. That works out to the gargantuan sum of $2,000 per sporting facility. See, that’s all our youth are worth to the UDP – at a time when rampant and violent crime among our youth are turning our once paradise into a hellhole; at a time when it is an acknowledged fact that healthy sports and recreation would provide a viable alternative to a life of crime. See what I mean? If it were up to me I would have told the PM to take his $40,000 and shove it where the sun don’t shine.

You want to hear what I would have done if it were all up to me? No? I’ll tell you anyway. If I were the bald headed ruler of Belize, I would have told my ex-wife that she better handle all these damn cases at a minimum price, cause the country is broke. I would have told my daughter that her mom and dad are already millionaires, so it’s all right if she deals with the Westerhaven case on a pro bono basis. If I were the bald headed ruler of this fiefdom, I certainly would not have put my son on the Board of Directors of BTL and certainly would not have given him a hefty piece of the Boledo pie (more on this soon.) I would most definitely not have made my brother a judge on the Court of Appeals, because this sends the wrong signal to the international community.

Before I go, would you like another example for context? No? Well I’ll give you one anyway. Last week the Minister of Health was given a brand new Toyota Landcruiser which cost a little over $160,000. He had been driving a 2004 Toyota Landcruiser but decided that just wasn’t cutting it, so he needed the 2010 version. Oh, by the way, the 2004 Landcruiser now has on private plates and is parked in that very Minister’s yard, but anyway!

We’re in recession, stupid. Dean Barrow and his greedy family are getting rich and fat while we starve. This week I saw a homeless man lying on a piece of cardboard on a sidewalk under the pouring rain with all his possessions in a plastic bag clutched in his arms. He had on a UDP shirt which read…Change is Coming. You get the sense?

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