The very colourful chairman of the UDP, Senator Michael Peyrefitte, like a lot of people, must have at times been mesmerized by the eloquence of his former leader, PM Dean Barrow. Many of those times he was a victim of glitter, because most of what we got from Mr. Dean in the handling of the Ashcroft deals was bombast and a ton-load of debt.

Things were bad when we voted in the UDP, and things were worse, much worse, when we gave them the heave ho. Much of their failure had to do with how they spent the bonanza from the oil taxes and the absolutely soft loans from Venezuela. There were necessary bridges to build, roads to fix, sports facilities to improve, and Krismos cheer to spread, but they created no new industries, unless they want to claim building on the nation-saving BPOs.

As John D’rectly seh, we spent the dollars like Henry money kyaahn done, and not only did we not have sufficient savings to defend us in the event of disasters, we were massively in debt when the disaster of disasters, the Covid-19 pandemic, hit us. We have debts all over the place, to countries, principalities, companies, and individuals, and the individual to whom we owe the most is Mr. Ashcroft.

Of the debts we owe Mr. Ashcroft, the two monsters are for the acquisition of BTL – please, Minister Rado, please daub some non-partisan paint over that garish red on BTL Belmopan — yes, the BTL acquisition which we paid too much for, and the UHS debt, which UDP brilliance ballooned to over a hundred million, and counting.

It is possible that the man of colour just couldn’t help being theatrical in the Senate when he got on the rostrum to crow down Senator Eamon for tabling a motion for the confirmation of a convention that calls for Belize to honor financial obligations with international parties. This United Nations convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, commonly called the New York Convention, is, according to Senator Eamon, a good sign for us, because it will facilitate a debt for nature swap that will see some necessary debt relief for the very strapped-for-cash Belize.

Pere said the deal was all about paying off Ashcroft. Let’s briefly look at the UHS story again. The PUP gave a sovereign guarantee to Ashcroft’s bank for a loan the bank gave to the UHS hospital. The UDP said the owners of the hospital were rotten PUP players, and on top of that the bank should have known that the sum the PUP signed for had to go to the House of Representatives for approval.

Now, there are cases that are black and white, and in those cases all you go to court for is to discuss mitigation, the extent of awards and such. There are cases that have grey areas, vague matters, and a lawyer on top of their game will look at the pros and cons, and the court in which the case will be tried, and tell their client their odds for victory.

The case, which on one side has a sovereign guarantee from a government freely elected by the people of Belize, and on the other side a bank which should have known that that government needed to go to the House for permission, was murky waters for Belize from the get-go. The UDP ill-advisedly (or wickedly) decided to go to court, the case dragged on, and the interest racked up in the millions and millions, and when the mud settled, we were ordered to pay.

After the costly defeat, the UDP went to the House, minus Gapi Vega, who didn’t show because he had been back benched, and minister after minister of state stood up in the House and lambasted the past government, PUP, and except for a “well, you know the country is broke”, they vowed not to pay.

Of course, the UDP must have been ashamed, very ashamed, for they lost nearly $70 million of the people’s money. I said, of course, but maybe the UDP is not ashamed, for they played the UHS and similar suspect deals into three consecutive victories at the polls. All good things, and bad things, come to an end, and the UDP was massively defeated when they went a fourth time to the polls singing the same old song.

Senator Pere is on the minority side of the Upper House, but he was on the majority side just three months ago, and while there he was in the full know about lots of things. Senator Pere said this signing was to give Ashcroft the power to collect on monies he was awarded by the courts, and that he could use this convention to make a lump sum of the debts we owe him. We were told that lumping the debts would help him reach or exceed 22% control of our national debt, and that, to be graphic, would give him the power to drop our pants.

Senator Eamon vowed that no such thing could happen because the government would insist on a clause that this convention would only apply to new arbitral awards.
I will congratulate Senator Peyrefitte for alerting the nation of the possibilities for Ashcroft in this convention and, while praying that those possibilities remain as unrealized as the state of the art forensics lab promised us in many UDP manifestos, I will tell him a couple things about their disappointing behavior.

There is nothing amusing or heroic about not trying to honor a debt, no matter to whom it is owed. Please to cut the glee when you discuss this business, because what the PUP did, the UDP compounded threefold. Please don’t try to win any more elections with these tactics, and please tell Fonso that when he said he wants to see how the PUP will function now that they have inherited a till that is empty, da we the people di feel. This UDP song that soh dehn full the coffers the PUP come an raid it, it is worn out.

Belize can’t be proud for making no effort to pay Ashcroft. We went to court, we are not happy about the verdict, but we have to respect it. We should give Lord Ashcroft a token, a promissory note, sincerely, because we are a law-abiding people, and as hurtful as it is, we must pay for electing leaders who came to us and said that they were the smartest, but proved that they weren’t sharp ataal.

A wap, a wap, wap, wap

Why do grown men knowingly waste their time, eh? Both the UDP and the PUP believe in fines, or incarceration, for not wearing masks. The objective is noble, even critical, because everyone in the world, even the wild and lawless Americans, now knows that masks are effective tools against viruses.

On Monday we’ll learn the number of people who were picked up on the weekend for not wearing a mask. Look, some of us respect incarceration, some of us respect fines, some of us respect both, and some of us respect neither penalty.

Go to Brother Hector Silva and ask him what works. Don’t let any weasel tell you any nonsense about the cane reminding people about slavery days. The truth is that the cane reminds people to not jump the line, to maintain the necessary physical distance and to wear masks. The Governor General isn’t European, and the Prime Minister isn’t European. We had more discipline when Officers Cassasola and Tablada had the tambran whip. Lee Chee chikin nice, but kip the space and wayr yu mask. If yu can’t listen, if yu won’t respect the laws of the land, yu have to feel…a wap, a wap, wap, wap.