We expected that PM Musa would have had a soft heart for the masses, because he had expressed and showed socialist inclinations in his life before ascending to the highest place on the Hill in Belmopan. We were right. Mr. Musa did have his heart in the right place, did love the common people. What we didn’t know was that he also had a soft spot for people who were rich, and people who were greedy, and people who were both rich and greedy.
The PUP promised to open sheet if we gave them the sails in 1998. After crushing UDP austerity between 1993 and 1998, we were very game to the PUP and their promise to grow the economy…especially because we thought that the man we were handing the sheet to would march in the footsteps of the Peaceful, Constructive Belizean Revolution, not to the beat of globalization. No one could have contemplated that he would hand over lock, stock, and barrel to the spendthrifts in his party. That PUP circus ’98 -’03 was a rerun of the old time woodcutter’s song – Henri money neva done…dehn spen ahn bifoa wi mek am. We must be thankful that when the money done, H. PM Musa handed over the sheet without a fuss.
Enter the UDP and H. Dean Barrow. H. Dean ascended the Hill in Belmopan with a different mandate. No one gave him the job to open sheet until he runs out of rope. That was not in his manifesto. Indeed, in his job as Deputy PM in the UDP of 1993-98, his shoulder was deep in the dough of austerity (freeze pay, retrenchment) alongside UDP hero, PM Esquivel. So.
No, H. Barrow’s mission is not about the spectacular. He came to do blue collar work – empower the Senate, ferret out evil doing, and stem crime. His job is to meet our debt payments, without causing too much hardship on the masses, hopefully. His job is to make us forget what happened to the DFC in ’98 -’03, and maybe forget a little of past transgressions by his party too.
Many hoped that this time the man we elected would be true to his past. To the consternation of many, H. Barrow had proved himself over the years to be a man who believes in the letter of the law above all else. Check, when his party lost control of the House in 1998, H. Barrow went back to private practice. During this period he was retained by all sorts of men, including Mr. Ashcroft. He worked the law to the letter.
In 2003 he offered to take our retainer (for glory, and a fixed salary), but no matter how hard the UDP faithful promised that their man was worthy, would be true to us if we gave him the title, we neva trust. The PUP went from bad to worse. In 2008 we had no choice. We took H. Dean off their retainer (men of all sorts, including Mr. Ashcroft), and put him on ours. We took our chances, so to speak.
Wow! After one year in office the people can say, without the shadow of a doubt, that H PM Barrow is truly a cat that is honest to his spots. In the employ of the people, who now pay his retainer, Mr. Barrow has stuck up for the letter of the law, just like he did in the past for men of all sorts, including Mr. Ashcroft, when they had him on retainer.
Oops, there is one about who, because of past “retainer” (and a little something on the side (paid to party coffers around election time)), thought that he would be favored. Yap, in the wild blue yonder there is one crying foul, because he is not getting special treatment…for campaign contributions. Please, where in the law does it say that a man who lives by the letter of the law should give services for campaign contributions? Indeed, many argue that this campaign contribution business, especially when paid by sorts who would subvert the true democratic system, should be classified as a crime. Yap, in some countries where it is against the letter of the law, people go to jail for that.
Mr. Ashcroft and his media houses are hollering into deaf ears when they bawl about paying their taxes. Ai, when he had H. Barrow on retainer, the laugh was on us. Yap, he was laughing all that money and prime properties into his bank. Can you remember when he scoffed at the people’s PUC, and a people’s protest through Albert Street, and upped the rates on us? Can you remember when he pulled the rug from under humble shareholders in BTL? Can you remember when hihn mi di kick up fu we government like tunu ball all over the world? And you remember all the while he had you-know-who on retainer.
Ha! The tiger didn’t change his spots: he just changed sides. Now it is poor we who have H. PM Barrow on retainer.
Hey, we want more from Mr. Barrow and his team, of course. Much more. We want to straighten out a lot of things in our society. We need H. PM Barrow and his crowd to change some of those oppressive laws that frustrate us. Ai, I guess he is not the man for that. I guess that while H. Barrow is king, we will have to find a way within the letter of the law. Or do without.
Hopefully, things work out
Like all Belizeans, I have my fingers crossed, hoping for things to work out in OW and Corozal. A little less than a decade ago, serious discussions on this matter that is before the sugar cane industry now, had begun. The fight between farmers and processors is natural, but what makes this present impasse particularly precarious is that it is complicated by the low prices for sugar at this time.
I have a lot to say, but my voice cannot help the climate today. So, I just have my fingers crossed that things will work out.