Hypocrite of the Week

This week, the first of the New Year in which an issue of the Belize Times is being published, our selection paneled was compelled to bestow the dubious honour of Hypocrite of the Week to Dean Oliver Barrow, the man who has made the ‘Hypocritic’ Oath his personal mantra and rule to live by. We closed out 2009 by electing the PM to our Hall of Shame, that space reserved for only the most special and extraordinary species of hypocrite. By all indications, this year will be no different.

Dean Barrow, in his pre-campaign and post-election posturing, proclaimed – nay, thundered out from the saintly pulpit, that he would stomp out even the faintest whiff of corruption. He gestured with the figurative rod of correction, and promised to wield it with all the might of rightness to smite down those in his government who dared to feed from the public trough for their own enrichment. He went on and on and on about how pure and virginal his UDP would be, restrained from fiscal imprudence by the chastity belt of Barrow’s scrutiny, fortitude and integrity.

Well, that was all well and good then, but all hell done broke loose in the UDP camp and corruption is now the rule, rather than the exception. Remember the 21 pledges made by Barrow and the UDP in their manifesto launched two years ago. Way back then, Barrow pledged to immediately pass an unjust enrichment act which would allow the prosecution of ministers who amassed wealth beyond the scope of their salaries and declared assets. Sounds like a great idea. But since the launch of the UDP manifesto more than two years ago, Barrow has said absolutely nothing about that act which would rein in the corruption of his ministers in government.

Barrow need not look too far to see corruption right around him. His minister of state in the ministry of works can boast of a cable company, a boutique, a real estate company, a heavy equipment rental company and a bus company – all opened since he got into office. And that’s just one example. His minister of agriculture seems to have struck black gold in his backyard since February 2008, since he can boast fabulous wealth lately. His deputy prime minister is fabulously wealthy, much more so now than before elections in February. His minister of works is living the high life. And there’s more…much more.

What has been St. Dean’s response to all this, you might ask? Has the rod of correction been smiting left, right and center – striking out at the corruption in the UDP? Well actually no, it hasn’t. Dean Oliver has apparently forgotten his commitment to stomp out even the faintest whiff of corruption. He has apparently put aside his pledge to run things the right way. The PM’s strategy to escape the stench is to play deaf, dumb and blind. His studied indifference to the corruption around him makes him a consummate hypocrite and our definite top pick for this issue’s hypocrite of the week.

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