While so many issues have been hitting Belizeans daily, the Cabinet has remained for the most part blind, deaf and mute. Our people have been faced with a crippling economic recession, rising cost of living, steadily rising fuel costs, education crises, the Kendall Bridge, crises in health and allegations of corruption in almost every department and level of government. Cabinet has said nothing. When our nation was dubbed the murder capital of the world by the Economist, Cabinet said nothing. As grenades exploded in our streets and Belizeans experienced a new era of urban terrorism, Cabinet said nothing. As our young men were gunned down daily and innocent victims lay paralyzed by stray bullets, our Cabinet said nothing.

Despite week after week of the most stunning revelations of misappropriation of funds and corruption in the Belize City Council, Cabinet said nothing. Even now the City Council is embroiled in the latest round of scandal and missing money, and Cabinet has said nothing.

So many issues, so much suffering by our people and Cabinet has said nothing.

Instead, every week a sentence or two on a Cabinet release revealed that our Ministers had discussed the latest gala that would be attended by the Prime Minister abroad, or who would be acting in his absence, or World Food Day. Petty nonsense discussed by our Cabinet while our people are bombarded with critical issues.

Now we understand that while our military has had to take to the streets to rein in crime, the discussion in Cabinet was about a liquor license issued to former UDP National Campaign Manager Karim Berges. We understand that while our streets are now filled with BDF soldiers wielding machine guns because our Police Department couldn’t handle the job, our Ministers were fully engaged in jostling over whether Mr. Berges should get a license or not.

Our Cabinet of Hypocrites and fools should be immediately disbanded, because for sure they have done nothing to serve the Belizean people.

The Mayor has called two summits in recent months – an economic summit and a crime summit. If she weren’t so serious about doing it we would be able to die laughing. Remember, this is the woman who has managed in just a few years to reduce City Hall to just a bankrupt, broken shell. Basic services to Belizeans are a thing of the past – efficient garbage collection is just a fond memory. The UDP City Council has done absolutely nothing for any Belizean. Nothing at all!  The City Council can’t even meet its bills and haven’t been able to do so for a long time. But the Mayor called an economic summit to that she could find some way to fix the floundering economy of Belize. Imagine that. She wrecked City hall but is proclaiming that she can fix the financial woes of the country.

And now the Crime Summit! City Hall has been reduced to a corruption plagued, scandal-ridden under-depositing, under-reporting, missing money mess…and that’s not going into two many details and it’s actually a conservative comment. Even as this is being written City Hall is being rocked by a licensing scam. The Mayor has been charged criminally for theft. She has been called a thief by her own UDP. She has been accused of misappropriating funds by her colleagues and by the Ministry of Local Government. Ask anybody and they will tell you that Mayor Zenaida Moya is nothing better than a common criminal. But now she has turned the authority on crime in Belize. Somebody should tell her that being considered a criminal does not make her an expert on crime.

While her actions label her a hypocrite, it must be noted that with both summits she has upstaged her Prime Minister who has offered no solution to either the state of the economy or the state of crime. So we offer grudging admiration for her constant reminders that she has bigger ones than Dean, but lash her and will continue to lash her for being hypocritical, brazen, facey and downright stupid.

Upon assuming office, Mr. Barrow placed his right hand on a bible and swore to do right by all manner of people without fear or favour or ill-will. He promised to serve this nation in good faith and work hard for all of us so that we could live better lives. When Mr. Barrow wanted our votes he promised to include us in all major decision-making; he said that it would always be about us. He said that he would do better and lead the moral charge in this nation. That all sounded wonderful. But now we all know that it was just a pile of hogwash. Mr. Barrow has ridden roughshod over the Belizean people, ignoring the cries of the poor, insulting the unions, belittling the bar association, bashing the public sector and demonizing the private sector.

The only Belizeans who have benefitted from the largess of Mr. Barrow are his wife, his ex-wife, his daughter, his son, his brother, his sister and now his estranged son Shyne. The difference between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ is crystal clear after one glimpse at the Barrow clan and another at the Belizean majority.

The appointment of Shyne as Music Ambassador, for whatever reason it was done, once again exposes the hypocrisy of the man who begged us for our votes and swore to be the best servant of the people we had ever seen. Mr. Barrow has served only himself and his family. The rest of us don’t matter.

In this week’s issue, just days after the first round of village council elections, we must make note of the hypocrisy of two important men, Mr. Barrow and his sidekick Mr. Vega. These two are two of the most influential men in the country, the leader of the nation and his deputy leader. One would think that these gentlemen, being of such stature would be obligated to set sterling examples for the nation, striving to do right for all Belizeans, committed to the development and growth and prosperity of our little jewel.

That is what one would think, and it is true that both these men swore an oath on the bible and vowed to do right by all Belizeans without fear or favour or ill-will. But what they swore to do and what they do are two very separate and distinct things.

On Sunday both the Prime Minister and his Deputy were present in Orange Walk when contraband Mexican beer was being slugged in huge quantities by UDP supporters. They were right there when UDP supporters got progressively drunker off the contraband and started behaving unruly, taunting the Police and harassing other villagers. Neither the PM nor his sidekick moved a finger to restore law and order.

On Monday, the Deputy Prime Minister allegedly ordered the Police to arrest 18 PUP supporters from Nuevo San Juan after the PUP claimed resounding victory in that village. The story told by those villagers who were first attacked and beaten by UDP supporters and then victimized by the Police is a nightmare. But that is the reality under this bunch.

And the thing is that these are the guys who swore to serve all Belizeans regardless of political affiliation. Mr. Barrow and Mr. Vega deserve every bit of our scorn and condemnation for their hypocrisy in the service of their nation. But both men will pay the price, for Belizeans do not suffer hypocrites easily.

It is in fact Minister Pig who dispatched some of the youth from Belmopan to mile 41 to occupy land which was privately owned. It was Minister Pig who pointed out that the owner was either dead or in jail so it wouldn’t be a problem. What Minister Pig couldn’t foresee is that the mini-movement to mile 41 would turn into a full-fledged exodus, as hundreds upon hundreds of Belizeans have jumped on the ‘opportunity’ to claim a piece of the jewel for their own.

Now that it has turned into a media circus, Minister Pig wants to place himself in the position of upholder of law and order. He has gotten the Cabinet to issue a stop order on all development on the land, claiming that GOB will do things the right way – acquiring the land and then parceling it out as they see fit. Except that the people don’t want to hear that. They don’t trust Minister Pig, and some of them are saying that the fat one is involved in a deal to sell off the land to wealthy interests including the oil company.

Minister Pig isn’t fooling anybody. He is caught between a rock and a hard place in Belmopan and will no doubt get the shaft for his duplicity. Because of the hypocrisy of Minister Pig, the land issue at mile 41 has turned into a national crisis. No matter what pedestal he hops on, Belizeans know the truth – whatever happens now will be on the head of this issue’s premiere hypocrite, Minister Pig.

If many people have their wish, there will be a special place in hell for the Minister of Education. He has singlehandedly destroyed the lives of so many people because of his single-minded pettiness and hatred of anything which is PUP or affiliated with the PUP. It is frankly disquieting to hear the man-boy who stood up in the House to say that he fired single mothers and the elderly say in the next breath that his ambition is to be the Prime Minister of Belize.

This week a single mother of four visited the Belize Times to tell her story. She had been a dedicated school warden for four years when she received her termination letter just before school resumed after summer. She was told only that the Minister had other people he wanted for the job. The mother had just taken out a loan to send her two older children to high school. Without any source of income, she could not pay that loan. There are times, she told us, when she doesn’t even have food to put on the table. She does the best she can, but knows it is not enough. There are times she has wanted to give up on life, she revealed, especially when her children don’t have enough to eat and she knows from the look on their faces that they are still hungry.

Her eldest daughter has also tried to commit suicide, the mother of four told us, because things are just so hard and it is a constant struggle to even keep her in school. She has lost her home and is even now looking for somewhere to live as she tries to get by each and every day. Patrick Faber, with malicious intent, destroyed this woman’s life and has damaged an entire family. And he doesn’t care. He says that he would do it again, because that’s the political game.

This is the man who swore an oath to serve without fear or favour – the man who tells students that they should follow their dreams and never let anything keep them down.

Patrick Faber is this week’s hypocrite, and he receives that award with a sincere and heartfelt wish that all the bad that he has done to undeserving Belizeans is visited upon him multiplied tenfold.

Mr. Barrow seemed a little frustrated during the presentation; so frustrated in fact that he behaved like a sissy and threw a tantrum. The dis-honourable gentleman stood up in the honourable House and tried to tell Belizeans that they would be taxed up the wazoo, but the cost of everything would go down. According to the learned fellow, he is imposing a 25% increase on GST which will bring in an additional $42 million into government’s coffers, but we Belizeans astonishingly will be paying out less. According to the brilliant PM, then, this $42 million additional revenue will probably just appear out of thin air, since he says that we poor Belizeans won’t feel the pinch.

Mr. Barrow’s obvious frustration has been born from the realization that his golden tongue is fast losing its luster. Belizeans are catching on to his antics and realizing that the equation just doesn’t add up. On one side of the equation are the lofty and practiced proclamations of the PM; on the other side of the equation are ‘haad’ times like never before. See, it doesn’t add up.

The frustrated gentleman will see no reprieve in coming days, as people realize that Barrow’s UDP colleague was speaking the truth – he is all glitter and no substance. His fits of verbal expression may well be written up in books of poetry, but that doesn’t do anything at all for the people out here who are reeling from the effects of economic stagnation. Barrow’s many-syllabled ramblings are doing nothing to stop the bloodshed on the streets. Barrow’s lyrical genius is doing nothing to put food on the tables of the 43% of Belize’s impoverished, or to send their children to school.

Dean Barrow will remain in our annals as the premiere hypocrite of our times – a true symbol of gleaming rubbish, golden nothings and sparkling dust in the wind. The sad thing is that the gentleman is possessed of so monumental an ego that his own hypocrisy is lost on him.

But at the last minute the little runt minister from Collet beat out his northern colleague for the grand prize. See, Minister Faber was on the radio this week at the official inauguration of the ITVET facility at the Old Technical compound (coincidentally a project which was envisioned, formulated, negotiated and brought to fruition under the PUP). According to Faber, he and the rogue UDP bunch we call government will never stop a project just because it was brought to life under the PUP. According to Patsy, once it is a good thing, he and the UDP don’t care if a project was started under the PUP – they will continue on the same path. What a crock. Patrick should have been struck down by a righteous bolt of lightning.

This is the very same Patrick Faber who stood up in the House of Representatives and proudly boasted that he and his UDP have fired single mothers and the elderly for no other reason but that they were supporters of the PUP. This is the very same Patrick Faber who without a thought fired a school warden who had consistently exhibited exemplary performance, simply because she was a supporter of the People’s United Party. The very same Patrick Faber shamed that dedicated school warden when she went to find out why she was fired, since she was the breadwinner of her home with four children going to college. The very same Patrick Faber refused to budge despite the pleas of the mother; despite the fight the mother and her husband put up to protect her job; a fight which eventually led to the death of Charles Good.

In fact, Patrick Faber was so fixated in his arrogant ways and hatred for anything or anybody associated with the PUP that the widow and mother of four had to take her fight to the Court.

And it is that boy who has the balls to stand in front of the nation and give a commitment that he and the UDP commit to continuing PUP projects and not to discontinue them. Patrick Faber is a joke with dreams of becoming Prime Minister. But no matter what his dreams and aspirations, no matter what sweet nothings flow from his double-speaking tongue, Patrick Faber will never be the Prime Minister of Belize, and this award of Hypocrite of the Week is likely the most prestigious accolade he will be given.

This week our selection panel decided to bestow the dubious honour of outstanding double-speaking, double dealing, self-serving personalities of the week to three deserving individuals, charlatans of the first order – Drs. John and George Gough and the little incompetent crime minister Carlos Perdomo. While the poor minister has been featured before and, if not kicked out of Cabinet, will be featured again, the ‘good’ doctors have just recently come under scrutiny after a recent event.

On February 15^th, Dr. John Gough threw all aspects of his sacred Hippocratic Oath to the winds and did great harm to Carlos Zelaya, a minor. Reports are that Gough and another person beat this boy almost beyond recognition, then left him on the street bleeding. He was allegedly rushed to the hospital in serious condition by friends. That was more than two weeks ago, and Dr. John Gough has yet to be arrested by the Police, has yet to go through the procedure of law and order which any other individual would have been forced to endure. After repeated entreaties by the parents of the victim, he was picked up for a short while, but there entered his brother, UDP political aspirant George Gough. Calls were made and John Gough was released. Not only that – the parents of the victim were allegedly intimidated by a senior police official in an attempt to get them to drop all charges.

It is understood that the Police Commissioner has said that the file has been handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who will then decide if any charges should be brought against Gough. While we would love to claim objectivity in this matter, quite frankly this entire case stinks of political interference and political manipulation, and there enters Minister of National Security Carlos Perdomo.

The fact is that any other common individual like you and me without UDP protection caught in the same circumstances would have been arrested and charged immediately – no ifs, ands, buts or maybes. It is obvious that on this UDP operated farm, some animals are more equal than others, and some animals can act with impunity and without reprisal.

Dr. John Gough swore an oath to do no harm, but harm he did. Dr. George Gough swore the same oath but that apparently didn’t mean anything when it came to protecting his little brother from facing justice. And UDP minister swore an oath to serve all without fear or favour, but that was very obviously a sick joke.

There’s a new oath all UDP insiders must take – it’s called the Hypocritic Oath. You’ll hear a lot more about it.

On Friday in the House of Representatives, Patrick Faber cried great big crocodile tears as he whimpered and whined about how sad he is because teachers don’t like him. He shook his head in disbelief and anguish, claiming that he was once a teacher too, and is a teacher at heart so he should be accepted into the club just because of that. And in the blink of an eye, he turned ugly and lashed out at those very same teachers he claimed to love so much, using the dirtiest, most insulting and degrading terms to refer to those thousands of teachers who do not think that he is the greatest thing since white bread.

According to Patrick, who has the best interests of the teachers at heart (snicker, snicker), the thousands who protested are either ignorant or politically motivated. See, said Patrick, the teachers are too stupid to know better. If they weren’t so ignorant, simpered the little boy minister, teachers would be prostrating themselves at his feet and singing Glory Hallelujah! And it got much worse than that. Patrick who cares for the teachers so much started bashing those same teachers without mercy, bashing their work ethics and characters. As if that were not enough, Patrick went so far as to accuse some teachers of making students uncomfortable, going to work with their ‘panties’ showing.

The demented little fellow has become versed in the art of double speak like his boss, and that has earned him his righteous place in this column. Just a note to Patrick – the teachers also want to give him an award, but you can bet that it’s not one that he’ll enjoy. And judging from how artfully Patrick dodges the bullet, it’ll be some time before the teachers and his transgressions catch up with him. But catch up with him they will.

Minister of Education Patrick Faber is this issue’s hypocrite of the Week.