Things that make you go HMMM!

A cemetery at mile 13…

Does anybody else find it a little strange that as of Monday there were only 12 spaces left at the Lord Ridge Cemetery and the idiots at City Hall are just now trying to explore another option? I figure that by this Friday those 12 spaces will be filled and then what? Do we leave our deceased loved ones at home until some other alternative pans out? Our municipal geniuses (insert extreme sarcasm here) are looking at mile 13 as an option. Even if that does happen, we’re looking at sometime down the line and certainly not by Friday. In fact, according to the Principal Planner who would be working on that project at mile 13, they’d need to plan this project to include proper streets and drainage and parking and maybe a chapel; so with the City Council at the helm we’re looking at a really, really long term project. Remember this is that bunch that couldn’t even pave a street in downtown Belize City. And besides that, how many poor Belizeans can afford to transport their loved ones all the way up to mile 13 to be interred. Remember we don’t all drive government vehicles while use fuel paid for by taxpayers. This whole plan makes absolutely no sense, which ironically means that it makes perfect sense that it would come from this UDP city council crew. The question of the week – what happens to deceased number 13 and 14 and 15? We’d really like to know.

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Overpaid under-workers…

Sometimes I wonder if people remember that our UDP city councilors are still being paid extremely hefty salaries from the public purse to ensure that their respective portfolios are handled adequately. Really, all the Councilors are getting nearly $1000 a week to do the people’s business. And that’s outside of their private full-time jobs. Probably some people may not have realized this because most of the Councilors are conspicuously absent from City Hall most of the time. Perhaps we forgot over time because the city is so dilapidated that we couldn’t imagine people actually being highly paid to take care of it. Yes, there is a Councilor being paid to ensure that parks and playgrounds in the city are well maintained. That must be breaking news to residents of the city, I’m sure, especially those living around parks. This morning one of the hosts on a morning show claimed to not even know all the Councilors in the city because apart from one or two who live for photo opportunities the rest are MIA. If we weren’t paying them I wouldn’t give a damn about them being MIA but we are so I do. We’ve got to start holding these Councilors accountable. They’ve gotten a free ride for far too long.

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The Dengue Outbreak…

Finally this week I heard somebody or the other associated with the Ministry of Health admit that this is a dengue outbreak based on the startling increase over their statistics for the past 5 years. According to the figures there have been about 400 reported cases of dengue and I believe he said 49 cases of hemorrhagic dengue. Last week a child died, reportedly because of a late diagnosis and the hospital’s inability to provide blood on time. The reality is that the increase in cases is very likely due to the under-resourcing of the Vector Control Section in the Ministry of Health. There are just not enough vehicles and sprayers and no money to buy the chemical used to kill mosquitoes. The priorities of this government are seriously skewed. There is money to purchase a vehicle costing nearly $200,000 for the Minister of Health but no money to buy equipment to address a disease which has already claimed the life of a child, unnecessarily. And that brings us to the public health system! Have our hospitals and clinics been made ready to deal with cases of dengue and hemorrhagic dengue? Apparently not! Has the blood bank been stocked to deal with urgent cases which require immediate transfusions? Apparently not! What exactly are we waiting for? God forbid that any relation of mine fall prey to what has been rendered an incompetent and inadequate public health system by a negligent UDP administration, because I promise there would be hell to pay.

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The case of Mr. Buckley…

A couple months ago a healthy, strapping young man who was the breadwinner of his family was shot by a Policeman through no fault of his own. He almost died because an officer of the law shot him twice with a shotgun for no reason. He was breaking no laws; he was doing no wrong, simply returning home after a day’s work. Nothing will ever be the same for Mr. Buckley. He has not been able to provide for his family and probably will never be able to return to the life he once had. He has suffered and his family has suffered. The Police Department which is responsible for this situation promised to help but that help never materialized. I remember when the law partner of the Prime Minister was shot. I remember Mr. Barrow taking center stage and pontificating at length about the situation. I have not heard the gentleman render even one comment on the case of Mr. Buckley. Mr. Williams was wealthy enough for a chartered jet to fly him abroad for the best medical attention. Mr. Buckley doesn’t have that luxury. He will have to struggle to do the best he can for himself and his family. Mr. Barrow had and has the power to do something for Mr. Buckley. Perhaps this is something the Prime Minister can instruct his new Minister of Police to look into when he stops slobbering.

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Rocky Bald-Barrow…

Sometimes I wonder just what is going through the bald head of our nation’s leader. Yes I understand that he lives the life of the privileged and the very wealthy. Yes I know that he doesn’t have to wonder where his next meal will come from or how those utilities will be paid. I understand all that, but is Mr. Barrow so blind that he cannot see how people are living out here? Can’t he see the poverty and the frustration and the anger and desperation as things just get harder? The UDP is running an ad about their upcoming convention. The center of attraction is a beaming, glowing Dean Barrow with arms raised. The music track for the ad is the theme from Rocky where he gears up for his match with the big Russian and the video caption reads – Inspiring the Future. That is a joke. It has to be. Mr. Barrow should fire his propagandists for making a fool of him. Inspire the future…many Belizeans don’t even know what the future will bring because of Mr. Barrow. Many Belizeans are just trying desperately to survive the present under Mr. Barrow. The ad is an insult to all Belizeans and a sign that our leader, enclosed in the luxury of his own personal circumstances, has not a clue about the reality which he has brought upon us.

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The DPP’s strange revelations…

In an interview aired on Channel 5, Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl Lynn Branker Taitt Vidal stated that the Prime Minister’s decision to remove the Chief Justice from the bench is irrational. She states, though, that the Prime Minister is not an irrational man so there must be some reasoning to which we are not privy. We agree with you, Madam DPP, there is another reason. We believe that the Prime Minister has moved on the Chief Justice because he has made several landmark decisions which have not gone in Government’s favour and it angered to PM. We believe that the PM is a petty man who had no qualms about using his powerful position to deal with those he feels have slighted him. Madam DPP also spoke about the mysterious Court 3 and her comments were startling. See, Court 3 will not come under the auspices of the DPP’s office. Court 3 will be governed, so to speak, by the Attorney-General’s Office. The Attorney-General is a political appointee who was chosen by the Prime Minister, so it stands to reason that this special Court which is to hear special cases will be influenced directly by politicians with none of the objectivity which should be granted by the Office of the DPP. We have been told that this Court is an illegal court. We have also been told that the special prosecutor picked to handle cases in this court has packed up and left the country due to concerns about the legality of the proceedings which are to be held there. Strange things, indeed, though nothing unexpected really from this UDP administration!

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