UDP Politics as Usual

Barrow too Stubborn, too aze ha’ad

On Tuesday, Adele Ramos of the Amandala wrote an article titled “’Off Shore Drilling has Green Light’: Prime Minister Barrow.” In this article Ramos said that the Prime Minister remains unconvinced that government should change its position.  What is it with Barrow?  Could it be that he is so used to being around people with no good ideas and talents that he has somehow concluded that he is the all-knowing, always correct master?  Worse, does he have a plan to protect us in the event that these guys strike oil offshore and it starts to spill into the Caribbean?

Barrow told Amandala that he “is still in favour of offshore drilling in a limited way in ‘particular areas.’” We at the Belize Times find this unbelievable, especially in light of the public outcry over this whole issue.  All the local experts in the protection of our marine ecosystem tell us that we have a very fragile marine environment and they all tell us that it is one of the wonders of this world.  We were almost taken off our World Heritage status by UNESO because of dredging and recent actions which threaten the system and yet the Prime Minister, after watching what is happening as a result of the BP oil leak in the Gulf, remains “unconvinced” that we should hold off?

Obviously the Prime Minister, in his ultimate wisdom, knows more than anyone else.  If ever there was a case of absolute power and how it can affect a person, this is it.  Get the sense Mr. Barrow – Belizeans do not think offshore drilling is worth the risk.

Vega’s Convention

When Gapi Vega got the nod from his Chief that he can host the UDP Convention in Orange Walk Town it was a surprise, after all everyone knows that Orange Walk Town has been neglected by the UDP Town Council and Central Government in an effort to embarrass Marcel Cardona, who continues to be a thorn in Vega’s side.  You see Vega sees himself as somewhat of a Red King in Orange Walk and he is dying to impress his boss.  But what Vega doesn’t want his Party’s leadership to know is that where the UDP is concerned; Marcel is not going to let Vega take control.

Of course this is not what is troubling to us – what is troubling to us is that while Orange Walk has been neglected for the past 3 years, the Town Council has now been busy using tax payers resources to fix up People’s Stadium to make it ready for the UDP Convention.  While the streets are broken and the drains clogged, while the town is in the worse state of disrepair ever, Town Council employees are being put to work around People’s Stadium.  None of this will matter, for as far as Orange Walk politics is concerned, unu UDP gawn!

Political victimizing is hurting all of us

When a political newspaper writes something that is negative or accusatory of their political opponents, there are always those who will view it with a certain measure of scepticism.  This is understandable, and so on those occasions when an independent source confirms that what we are saying is indeed not an exaggeration then we have to go ahead and use that oft heard cliché, “We told you so.”

During his presentation Dr. Herbert Gayle confirmed something that we have been saying here at the Belize Times over and over again; that the callous and vindictive behaviour of the UDP, the victimization of hard working Belizeans and the firing of PUP supporters, particularly single mothers, has negatively affected just about every Belizean family.   Dr. Gayle referred to this as political tribalism and considered the level of this behaviour as “alarming.”

We told you so.

A shortage of information on the effects of Dengue

This week the Belize Times set out to determine just how many Belizeans in the Cayo District and in the Belize District are affected or have been infected with dengue fever so far this year.  All attempts to get an answer from the Public Health Department was futile, and not because it was the Belize Times trying to get this information, but because the information was just not available.  Yet in a release sent out by Government it stated that the places most affected by dengue are the Belize and Cayo Districts.   Of course such pronouncements should only be made if backed up by data, which should be readily available.

The fact is that there is no proper collection of information on this matter. There is real work being done in the Ministry of Health to deal with this situation and to educate Belizeans about how this disease is affecting our communities, however.  Once again the Minister of Health and his team have been caught unprepared and are unable to deal with this situation.

This is yet another example of the incompetence of this UDP government and their inability to properly manage the affairs of the nation.

How can a government with a super majority become a “fragile central political authority?”

“In a country where there is a strong central political authority, people are not allowed to live in a morass and dump around them with garbage.  Such pictures give the impression that people are on their own and there is little or no sense of parameters for social and physical action.“  – Taken from the Summary Report of “Male Social Participation and Violence in Urban Belize” by Dr. Herbert Gayle.

What Dr. Gayle is telling us is that things in Belize are falling apart; everywhere you look the system is breaking down.  From the bridge at Kendall in the south, which went down more than two years ago, to the broken down streets and highways across the country, nothing seems to be working right.  In the north our cane farmers are dealing with a crisis in the sugar industry and are on their own.  In Belize City the streets are being overrun by criminal activity and murder.  Our education system is inadequate, our health system is unable to deal with seasonal health issues like the dengue outbreak, our athletes are punishing when they go abroad to represent our country and on and on.  We are messed up and it is clear for all to see.

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