It seemed to us on Friday that Prime Minister Dean Barrow lost his fortitude in the House as he gazed down the barrels of Lord Ashcroft’s terrible cannons. He waffled and wavered. In 2002, then Prime Minister Said Musa did the same thing. When he went eyeball to eyeball with the Lord of Chichester, he backed down.
Now please, we mean no disrespect to the respective Prime Ministers. They became Prime Ministers because, above everything else, they correctly interpreted the mood and will of their political parties and their people at critical times. Prime Minister Musa then, and Prime Minister Barrow now, behaved and behave the way they do in front of Market Square because they believe that this is how their parties and their people want them to behave. The people of Belize have not always carried on in the absolutely resistant mode of the Haitian people, or the Jamaican people, or the Cuban people. We Belizeans know how to dodge pain. We have been Brer Anancy.
Right now we submit, however, brothers and sisters, that this needs to change. In the world today, nobody will become sorry for you because you are crying like a baby. Governments are elected to collect taxes and spend the money wisely. If the largest source of Belizean taxes refuses to pay his taxes, Houston, we have a problem. We have a serious problem.