Barrow the multi-millionaire Prime Minister drives around Belize in a brand new 2012 Land Cruiser in air-conditioned comfort. We wish he could tell us when was the last time he visited Jane Usher Boulevard, or any other poverty-stricken area for that matter. A reality check for Barrow would be a drive from the foot of the Old Swing Bridge on Albert Street to his spanking new 3.5 million dollar office ironically called the Equity House. He cannot escape seeing the many vagrant Belizeans who have fallen through the cracks of harder times and have taken residence in our historic Battle Field Park. How can Barrow not see the many scores of stores that have closed down on Albert Street that were open before he took office in 2008? How can he not see that?

Barrow’s biggest failure as a Prime Minister is his inability to fix the Belizean economy. If there is one thing Barrow must admit it is that while it is easy to blame the past, the UDP had ten years to prepare to manage the country and keep the economy stable. Instead, Barrow wasted four years. First, by turning the Office of the Prime Minister into an extension of his law firm, going after not one but FOUR Constitutional Amendments. Then he picked fights along the way with the Unions, the Church, the Judiciary, the Bar Association, the Chamber of Commerce, Channel 5, and million dollar investors. All at the expense of the Belizean Economy.

The Belizean economy under Barrow has gone from stable to negative. The productive sector is gasping to stay alive, as the Sugar Industry has had to be bailed out and is on the selling block. The Citrus Industry has been locked in a fight between growers and management while Barrow watched on. It is under Barrow and the UDP that Belize have experienced the worst foreclosures and business shut downs including the Bowen Shrimp Farm, the Mena Group of Companies, Belize Unit Trust, Batsub, Caribbean Tobacco, A&R Gas Station, Malic’s, Juanitas. The bad economy has also landed a serious blow to Belizean home owners who have been unable to meet their loan obligations and have seen their homes placed on sale in weekly publications while for the four years Barrow did nothing.

After squandering four years, Barrow has nothing to show. The Kendal Bridge is still a wooden bridge. Civic Centre is an eye soar and a death trap to athletes. The Marion Jones Complex is still just a fence and a UDP hustling facility. The new Sport Complex and four-lane highway promised by the UDP is but a pipe stream.

Barrow claims to have won the confidence of international financial institutions, but none have invested monies in his leadership. He never got the $100m stimulus package he promised Belizeans, the Russians snubbed him, and most recently the World Bank said they rather invest their monies in a PUP-led City Council which will win municipal elections on March 7th. Creditors see no plan, no vision and worst of all incompetence and laziness in the UDP.

If the Belizean economy stands any chance of survival, it can’t be under Barrow and the UDP. They have failed in every possible way. We need a change to work the economy and attract investment that will bring jobs for people. We need a change from the stress of life harder under Barrow that has made more Belizeans poorer. The people want a change and only the PUP can deliver that change. The PUP has a record of growing the economy and putting people back to work. Lessons have been learnt, and the PUP under new leadership will deliver for a more just and better Belize. Come Election Day, March 7th, make the change. It’s time for Barrow and the UDP to go home! It’s time the PUP delivers.

What the Berges/Andrews Poll did was put to rest the misleading notion that the UDP got this election. In fact, what is quite interesting is that not one but now two polls have confirmed that they want an early election. Over fifty percent said yes. Therein lies the heart of the matter. Why do people want an early election? The answer is simple, the call for early election is a call for the government to go home, that the people are dissatisfied with the UDP government and simply put, it is a call for change.

What is even more important is that the Berges/Andrews poll was done after the Christmas giveaways, the song and dance about lowering electricity rates, and more interestingly, after the SSB mortgage write-offs. The poll therefore represents a kind of measure of four years of starvation versus one day belly full and giveaways. To compound the problem, the UDP Area Representatives have made a mad rush over at the Immigration Department in order to give birth to a new batch of Belizeans in order to get them register so that they can vote in the upcoming double elections in March. But the Belizean people are disgraced by it and see it for what it is, a desperate bunch trying to hang on to power, a desperate act of a beleaguered government trying to steal the elections.

On the subject of change, the People’s United Party must face its critics and skeptics. Its leadership must remove any doubt that what happened in the past will not reoccur under his watch. The PUP must defend its proud record of accomplishments such as one of the best record when it comes to education, building far more class rooms and new schools, granting scholarships and free text books to all. The PUP must defend its record of rolling out National Health Insurance and Pension Schemes for seniors, of building and upgrading health care all over Belize, new ITVET centers, and the very house Barrow grand stands on. It was the PUP who invested in infrastructure like the Marine Parade, the Orange Walk bypass, bridges and roads, growing the economy, tourism and investment and creating jobs that set the PUP apart.

The PUP also knows how to take reform seriously, and was the one to enact the Finance and Audit Act, increase the check and balance of SSB and DFC, give more say to NGOs and community groups and in the last election, attempted to strengthen the senate by making it an elected body.

The People’s United Party new leader, at his swearing in, set the tone for the party calling for it to return to its roots of social justice and George Price motto of “Serve The People”. The Party Leader admitted that the people had chastised the PUP for doing wrong and our leader apologized for the past while pointing forward, reaffirming the party’s commitment to transparency and accountability and declaring that change must come to the PUP.

The winds of change are blowing Belize. The people want a change – a change from Barrow’s four years of suffering, a change from under depositing, a change from the killings, and the special treatment for the gangs over victims of crime, a change from a depressed economy, lack of jobs, and hopelessness. It is change the people want plain and simple. CHANGE will come!

At the House, Opposition Leader Francis Fonseca has had to make the best of the PUP’s 6 seats. While he gets one shot at debating the UDP, Barrow gets first, second and third readings. And, with a House Speaker too deep in the UDP family to play it by the rules, the Al Capone Prime Minister gets to speak whenever he wants. The parting shot, in other words, will always be Barrow’s last words and he makes every effort to glitter, to pontificate, to call names and persecute. The problem, then, is how does the PUP get past this disadvantage or more importantly get past wily Dean Oliver Hollywood and his minions.

The PUP Leader’s address of the mortgage write-off programme in last Friday’s in the House of meeting was on point, highlighting that it was the PUP who made it possible for Belizeans to get their homes in the first place. In the words of the Opposition, the PUP did all the heavy-lifting work, while the UDP cherry-picks on their efforts.

Hon. Fonseca questioned Barrow’s motives in trying to do in one day (especially just days before the elections) what should have been done four years ago, when the UDP took office. The important question asked was how is it that of the over 700 loans, 60% of them were non-performing. The answer lies in the UDP’s failure to stimulate the economy and their refusal to increase salaries while the cost of living increased. This is a terrible indictment on the Barrow Administration. In many ways, Barrow’s election gimmicks are proof that he has failed as Prime Minister but is now trying to trick the people of Belize.

But to Barrow, there is reason to celebrate. This rich millionaire attorney who ‘made it’ by protecting special interests, including Michael Ashcroft, now feels he has remade himself into some Robin Hood. Some have become infatuated with his pseudo character, but to many, including us, his efforts are always secretly cloaked with some hidden agenda to benefit the interests of a select few. We see this amongst the UDP family, friends and lawyers who have gathered around the public’s trough as the Prime Minister has made it available for the taking. Just look at the money collected by ex-wife Lois Young-Barrow, who gets preference to defend the Government in cases that should be taken up by the attorney General and Solicitor General. Now she is joined by brother, Denys Barrow. Look at who got to sit as Board Chairman of Belize Electricity Limited, none other than law partner Rodwell Williams. Who got to sit as Chairperson at Social Security Board, but ex-wife Lois Young-Barrow. She also sits on the Board of Belize Telemedia Limited.

But what has Barrow done for you? Where is your 7 million tax write off? Where is the promised reduction in the price of basic goods? Where if your employment, or salary increase? Has your life improved under the UDP?

Said Musa must have burst Barrow’s piñata by explaining to the people that when Barrow gives in one hand, he grabs away more with the other, pointing to NHI roll out that was taken away, payments to the senior citizens through the non-contributory pension scheme that taken away, the 32 million rebate owed to us by BEL that taken away, the lowered water rates that he jacked up, the 25% increase in GST, the increases on fuel prices, and the payment to gang members instead of more scholarships.

Barrow wants Belizeans to forget the four years of pain and suffering, to forget the stress of being jobless, the pain mothers and loved ones have felt for over 400 murders, the mess at KHMH, the monthly mounting bills, his failure to grow the economy and his failure to understand that no one man can run this country. Now he is singing and dancing for your vote but where is the plan to change things around? Barrow has never presented a credible economic plan in four years of being in office.

Enough of the pretending and theatrics. It only reminds us that not all that glitters is gold. The drama behind Barrowood is not for Belize. The time for change is now. The People’s United Party is committed to change and change we must. Come election time, change is coming – PUP change to serve the people must come.

There are indicators, political gimmicks really, such as an increase in activity at the Lands Department for the quick processing of special deals for land titles cut by the UDP hacks. The other took place shamelessly. The UDP is blatantly trying to steal the elections by using the Immigration Department to naturalize as many immigrants as possible so that they could be registered to vote.

What took place last Friday in Belmopan was shameless as over seven hundred immigrants were bused in to collect citizenship cards that were only made out for some two hundred applicants. After the processing of citizenship, the lines moved to the Elections and Boundaries office which was instructed to remain open even on Saturdays, to accommodate the UDP antics.

But the signs existed earlier than most could see. Barrow’s decision to remove Carlos Perdomo as the candidate in Caribbean Shores and replace him in thirty days had many asking why  the haste in the Shores? Now we know.

Barrow dropped another clue when he took 1.2 million of taxpayers’ money for his Christmas Bonanza. Instantly, he created liquidity for UDP Area Representatives who have been dead, dead over the last four years. This Barrow did in an attempt to level the playing field in the face of the World Bank slap to his face, that loans for municipal projects would be delayed until April, after the municipal elections.

But Barrow had more tricks up his sleeve. He then announced that there will be lower electricity rates, half a year in advance. He mocked the process, claiming not to have any say in what the Public Utilities Commission does, yet he declared what the PUC will do before the matter was ever heard by them.

Then it was onto his write off of more tax payers’ monies which totaled 17 million at first, then became only $6m, according to Barrow. That scheme has now become the administration’s latest headache, as it has been exposed at just another plan that will benefit special UDPs. Lastly, Barrow claims he started his country tour in Chunox Village but residents stayed home en masse. Do we still believe it’s about Town and City Council elections?

The People’s United Party has been closely watching all that has taken place, and is ready to fight back. The PUP has called on its troop to rise, to get ready for war whenever the elections are called, to put aside differences and focus on the enemy and engage the people on what the real issues are.

When Barrow beats his chest bigging up himself for what he thinks he has done for the poor, it must be exposed for what it is – a plan to keep the poor even poorer.

The real story is that under Barrow and the UDP, Belizeans have been feeling pain, suffering and stress. Belizeans have no money, no jobs. The school fees have piled up, utility bills and cost of living have been merciless, the crime and violence have paralyzed society, while incompetence and failure has become the order of the day.

The people may not know the date of the elections but this we know – the people are ready for whenever it is called. Just ask former Prime Minister Holness, now opposition leader from Jamaica, who tried to sneak one past the Jamaican people – he who has  eyes to see, let them see.

The problem here was not the alleged gesture, but the means used to justify the end. Can Belizeans remember when in 2006 and 2007 they called for reforms in the way your government conducts business but most importantly how they spend tax dollars? That call was answered by the PUP who gave the Belizean people the Finance and Audit Act.

Barrow as Leader of the Opposition and Prime Minister seem to be two different persons. Today he chooses to bypass the legislation, hinting to his transparency and accountability dance. This most egregious act has not been missed. It has been protested by the PUP and Business Senator Godwin Hulse. We seem to be waiting for the Unions to catch up, or perhaps wake up.

Barrow seems totally unfazed. He did not even spend Christmas in Belize as he left to Miami, leaving a pre-recorded New Year’s message on DVD. He proclaimed 2011 as the best year that ever was, when every other Belizean knows that is not the case. Life is haada out ya.

The failed UDP Leader returned with a slew of more elections promises, after starving the nation for 3 ½ years. He says he’ll give us the sky, the sun and throw in the moon. But when we put Barrow’s election plums under the microscope, we find the lowering of electricity rates to be similar to his promise of nationalizing oil back in 2008. Can we remember his lowering fuel prices in time for the 2009 Town and CitCo elections, but as soon as the results were in, the prices were jacked up back?

And how does he explain the 35 million his administration said BEL owed to the Belizean people? What has happened to this money? Will they use this same money owed to the people to pay for lower rates? More importantly, how soon after the elections will we see the rates go back up?

Barrow has had to even pretend to suffer selective amnesia, and he’s good at it. After beating up on the business community for the past 3 ½ years, Barrow claimed in his election promises speech that he is setting aside his record of abuse and assault and make it up by installing a business desk in the Office of the Prime Minister. Too late Prime Minister, the business community already knows you are the problem.

Barrow is shamelessly campaigning for his failed town and municipalities, who have failed miserably in delivering the goods and services to the people for the past six years, even with a UDP national government. But the people of Belize are no fools. We remember the pain, the corruption and scandals, the lack of jobs, the headache school fees, the broken streets and incompetence, and the murders. Life harder under Barrow and no amount of feel good promises nor sugar-coated plums will change us. It is time for change Belize.

As we celebrate the season we at the BELIZE TIMES also focus on our most important gift of all which is you, that’s right, it’s you that got us going week after week, finding stories, digging, probing, searching, researching, picking up pieces here and there. It is you our reader that motivates us to put out the best newspaper we can with headlines such as “Fronting for Foreigners All Along”, “NO Raise NO Relief”, “Flippin Hulse Must Go”, “GSU’s Vidal: Child Abuser”, “Black Friday”, “Crisis at the Border”, “Que Viva George Price, Que Viva”, “Moya Resigns”, “Forward with Francis” and “Hook or Crook”. From the sensational headlines to From the Ghetto Streets, Hard Hitting, The Next revolution, Reality Check, Reid Between The Lines, In My Perspective, Amazing Grace, Mariposa, and Think About It, it is because of you who look forward to the truth every week that we’ve kept going.

On behalf of the People’s United Party, the Editorial Board, the Editor and Staff of the BELIZE TIMES and all those who in one way or the other help to make the paper a weekly reality, please accept our sincere gratitude. For those who contribute your time, your talent, your energies may this holiday be filled with peace, Joy and Love from all of us at the BELIZE TIMES.

It’s time to grab the broom, the grayta, the mouth organ, and bruk down the old fashion way. Put the berries wine on the table, draw the cork, Belize it’s Christmas. Happy Holidays.

Those in the know have seen it coming for a while. The UDP Caribbean Shores convention was one of the first signals, even though Barrow’s least-favored candidate won. Barrow has enough reasons to keep the new entrant at arms-length, but he knows the PUP’s Anthony Mahler will do the job of wiping him off the electoral map in Caribbean Shores.

Next, the UDP has stepped up their political gimmicks such as Finnegan’s grand standing about how much people he has been dishing political gifts to, using tax-payers’ money. And then there is the fact that all 31 UDP constituency members have been given more than a little extra for the Christmas season.

But still none of it could be real indications of an early election. What is, however, is the UDP’s increasing fear that the PUP is becoming better organized and ready. Barrow’s real purpose for calling an early election is preventing PUP Leader Francis Fonseca from gaining more momentum which his new leadership has built for the People’s United Party. Barrow is already unsuccessful. Not only is the PUP better organized, but also more united and ready!

The second reason Barrow is willing to call an election only three full years into Government, is that not only has he recognized that he has failed our nation miserably, but he also knows that nothing will change economically within the next two years. The World Bank, IDB and CDB have given Barrow a rude awakening. The IMF is calling on the UDP administration to increase taxes, and Barrow intends to do so after the election.

We bet Barrow will be all glitter on Friday. He will beat his chest and sing the nationalist song over BTL and BEL. He will broadcast that his Government is working and caring for the poor. He will blame the PUP for everything wrong. But we bet you he won’t utter a single word about unemployment, the crime rate, cost of living, or the poverty levels which all increased under his watch over the last three years.

Are you better off under the UDP, and has life gotten any easier under Barrow?

Barrow won’t say a single thing about his promised national oil company, the millions collected by BNE in oil revenue and what has been Belize’s fair share. Barrow won’t tell us what the secret deal is with the Perrenco group, which has seen the UDP Government switch allegiance from the Irish company to the Guatemalan company. Will Perrenco fund the UDP’s election campaign?

Come Friday, the radios will be on. Ears will be listening closely, hoping to hear the words Mr. Speaker, I have asked the Governor General to dissolve the House and set both general and municipal elections for March 2012. But it won’t happen, and Belizeans now know why.

The Belizean People are ready Mr. Barrow. The PUP is ready too.

It was the saddest Christmas ever in the history of Belize as mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and relatives, instead of celebrating Christmas, were comforting each other as they started the New Year with mortgages, loans, school fees, and light, water, and telephone bills to pay, but without a job. One family story that stood out was that of Mrs. Burgess, who said in a television interview that when she got her letter letting her know that she was fired she said that she didn’t mind because she was a UDP, but when she got home and met her daughter and her son and they had been were fired, it was too much. She broke down and cried. It was then, she said, that the Belizean people were given an early Christmas gift from the Grinch that stole Christmas, her Christmas and eight hundred and more Belizean families. This was the UDP making of a Black Christmas.

What is interesting Belizeans is this: while this year we got NO mass firings in one day under Barrow, there is still glaring similarities to the 1995 job massacre. Christmas is upon us and no money noh deh. To make matters worse, one out of every six Belizeans is out of a job, our business community is on life support, the sugar industry is being sold to foreigners, the citrus industry is in crisis, overnight tourism is down, the shrimp industry has gotten a black eye in the European market and The World Bank, IMF, Standard & Poors and Moodys all have Belize on their watchlist.  The only moneymaker for Belize, oil, rolls out of the country making millions upon millions for our new colonialist.

Under Barrow, everybody is suffering. Well, with the exception of First UDPs, Lois, Denys, Anwar, Kimano, Juliet and Joe, et al, but for all others it’s a dread Christmas. If Santa Claus comes to town, he will be overtaxed and broke. This year he will be hiding out from the people from Jane Usher, Antelope St. Extension, Gungulung, Peter Seico St., Ghost Town, Majestic Alley, Jungle Hutment, Kelly Street, and Belama Phase IV. St. Nick, all dress up in his red and white UDP suit, ain’t coming all right. Scrooge made sure of that. It’s deja vu Belize. 2011 is Barrow’s Black Christmas with a bruk Santa Claus.

The real reason which got Barrow to Old Belize may have little to do with the dire state of the economy (it has been like this since early 2009). Instead, it was his knee-jerk reaction to the news that the much-needed money he was relying on to finance the UDP’s March 7th municipal election campaign won’t be coming until April of next year. In other words, the World Bank is leveling the playing field in Belize’s political landscape and now the same people that Barrow scolded, scoffed at and jailed using his GST arsenal have suddenly become important, very important for campaign finances.

The business community took the opportunity to vent their frustration on the Barrow Administration but their expectations certainly fell short as what came out of Old Belize was nothing more than photo opportunities, political pandering and a feel good speech. As usual, glitter but no substance. Barrow says he wants to resuscitate the economy when he is the one that took it from stable to negative status in the first place. It was Barrow and Gapi that shut down the Lands Department countrywide which had grave effects on banking and business on a whole in Belize. It was Barrow who started a pissing match between Ashcroft and himself which has had consequential effects on Belize. It was Barrow who chided and unleashed his hound dogs at the President of the Chamber of Commerce when she dared to speak out. It was Barrow who messed with the Courts and the Constitution and who fired the former Chief Justice. Now he says he wants to fix things? Wasn’t it Barrow and his Central Bank Governor who told us that they didn’t see how recession in the north would affect Belize, yet today Belize economy is at an all-time low?

What the business community and this country needed to hear out of Old Belize was what Barrow was going to do to turn this economy around? Perhaps we can offer some suggestions: how about reducing the windfall tax on oil revenues from $90 a barrel to $60, immediately. And instead of whining about high interest rates at commercial banks, how come a man who fought to amend the Constitution four times in two years can’t pass a law to reduce and regulate the interest rates in Belize immediately. Here’s another: why can’t the Prime Minister declare a special program to protect Belizeans and end the widespread sale of Belize homes immediately? And another: why doesn’t Government reduce its waste and high expenditure on vehicles, fuel and Minister perks?

To make matters worse, Belize was downgraded again by Standard and Poors from stable to negative. This will have a negative impact on Belize’s foreign and local long term credit ratings. Other credit rating agencies are paying close attention as the days get darker under Barrow and the UDP.

The Prime Minister may feel he can afford to brush off S&P’s downgrading, but the people of Belize are no fools. We know that the World Bank, IMF and S&P all belong to the same club. They all knock glasses and drink champagne together, and if they weren’t all connected, why it is that the World Bank announced it was putting off funding until April next year immediately after S&P’s downgrading? One plus one equals two.

The harsh reality is that under Barrow, everybody is suffering. Barrow needed to have been told this. The business community is hurting while others such as Fresh Catch, Bowen Shrimp Farms, A&R Gas Station, Belize Unit Trust, Juanitas, BATSUB, even Old Belize and many others have folded.

Everybody knows that the People’s United Party is the party that knows how to work the Belizean economy. The new PUP Leader Hon. Francis Fonseca has pledged to turn the Belizean economy around, instead of firing we will be hiring. There is a serious problem of a lack of confidence in the Barrow Administration and unless we fix it nothing will change. We are all in the same boat, some on the bow, some in the middle and some on the stern. The real problem is the captain. It is time to fire the captain and get a new one. Nuff said.

To understand Barrow’s behavior towards 19th November we must examine his cultural psyche as a Royal Creole whose descendants and colonial masters treated the Garinagu in British Honduras in similar fashion. To them the Garinagu were not important, therefore their treatment was racist, dehumanizing and bordering on being criminal at times. Barrow’s treatment of the 19th, then, exposes a deep rooted disrespect within the UDP for the Garifuna people.

Between 1979 and the latter part of 1981, Dr. Ted Aranda became Leader of the UDP and would later reveal that one of the reasons he had to leave the UDP was that from the beginning he was not given a fair chance to lead. Dr. Aranda’s contributions were sabotaged because he was seen as an outsider. He recognized that, but said that he was prepared to still give it a try. But what really caused him to leave the UDP was the exposure to a subtle but dangerous kind of discrimination towards his ethnicity. It was not the color of his skin that offended the UDP hierarchy but that he was a Garifuna. He had to leave. Other prominent Garifuna leaders word also feel the brunt of this hardline within the UDP. Cynthia Ellis later found out when she dared to be a UDP Deputy Leader. Within the walls of the UDP all you heard was: “How dare she” and “she should know her place”. Her bid was compromised from the beginning and she never stood a chance. Even Simeon Sampson, Human Rights Pioneer in Belize, who dared to be outside the Dangriga base, would also feel the brunt of UDP hand where they called him out and attempted to disparage him at public meetings. But it was Michael Finnegan, the UDP whip, who put a face to the mask when Rhenae Nuñez publicly stated and accused Finnegan of calling her the most dehumanizing and derogatory names. Rhenae may have her faults as any human being does, but that she is a Garifuna is a blessing, and she deserves the respect any of us asks for each other.

There have never been any apologies from Finnegan nor anyone in the UDP for their bashing of the Garinagu. Unlike the UDP, the People’s United Party’s record, while not perfect, stands out as honest and respectful of our Garifuna brothers. It was George Price and the PUP that gave the 19th celebration its national prominence. And it was the PUP that gave us Hon. Sylvia Flores, the First Woman Minister and First Speaker of the House from Dangriga. It was also the PUP who appointed the late great Andy Palacio as Musical Ambassador, Roy Cayetano as CEO, Philip Zuniga as President of the Senate, Conrad Lewis as Clerk of National Assembly, supported Cassian Nunez as Mayor, Rudy McKoy and many others, recognizing, respecting and embracing the expert value of our Garifuna brothers and sisters as true partners in the diligent development of this land, this country, our Belize.

Today Dangriga has had six years of a UDP Town Council and 3 ½ years of the UDP in Central Government, but Dangriga has nothing to show for it except a broken Bridge in the middle of Town that epitomizes the UDP’s failure. The town is bushy, the streets need fixing and the youth got no jobs, hanging out in Lakeland with nothing to do.

The big question Dangriga is this: What will you do about it? Will you continue to be disrespected by Barrow and the UDP or are you going to call a spade a spade? It is time the Culture Capital sends a message to Barrow for disrespecting the Garifuna people. We are sick and tired of the disrespect. It must end here! It ends now! Come March 2013, tell the UDP ‘don’t come to Dangriga because we will be coming to Cayo with our strongest message ever’: “Stay outta Griga”. Griga, look at Barrow in the face and let him know: memegeiru bumitiwa, memegeiru wamutibu giñe…you don’t need us and we don’t need you either!