BELMOPAN, Fri. Apr. 9, 2021– The Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Patrick Faber, staged an opposition walkout on Friday from the House of Representatives meeting at which this year’s budget was presented after being called a “boy” by area representative of Cayo South, Hon. Julius Espat. Faber demanded an apology for the use of the unparliamentary and offensive remark by Espat, which he never received.

Prior to the walkout, Faber had appealed to the Speaker of the House of the Representatives, Hon. Valerie Woods, by stating,”On a point of order, Madam Speaker,” but Espat immediately interjected with the statement, “Madam Speaker, I am not yielding to him.”

“It’s a point of order, you must yield,” Faber had insisted, but Espat replied, “No, I’m not yielding.” “You must yield!” Faber then demanded.

It was at that point that Espat said, “I don’t must…you sit down, boy!”

“Members!” Speaker Woods then exclaimed. Faber then turned to Speaker Woods and said, “Madam Speaker, I will ask you to have him apologize to me. That remark is completely unparliamentary.”

Both members then broke from the rules of the House and engaged in a hostile verbal exchange while the House Speaker, Hon. Valerie Woods, demanded that they take their seats.

“Those last choice of words use I will ask not to be entered into the record,” Speaker Woods then said.

Faber then rose once again, unsatisfied with the Speaker’s handling of the remark. And the sideshow continued. He asserted that the member for Cayo South and other members from the government side of the House had used the offensive term before but had never apologized.

The debate between Faber and Espat continued, but the tone had already been set in the House. The area representative for Mesopotamia, Hon. Shyne Barrow, then stood on a point of order.

“My point of order is standing order 44 3B: ‘Where such member has used objectionable, abusive and insulting or offensive words and language that is unparliamentary, he should be asked to withdraw from the House.’ This is a repeat offender, the member from Cayo South. He is very disrespectful to members on this side, and you, Madam Speaker, you have been an enforcer. Yes, you have struck his abusive language from the record, but just now he referred to the Leader of the Opposition as a boy. For him to ‘sit down, boy’ — Madam Speaker, that has racial undertones, and he should apologize. You should compel him to apologize, Madam Speaker. It is not enough that you strike it from the record.” Barrow emphasized.

Speaker Woods ruled that the remark would be struck from the record, but never explicitly asked Espat to apologize for his disparaging remark.

 ”I am bewildered by a certain personality calling me a repeat offender,” Espat laughingly said — alluding to the Mesopotamia area representative’s past run-in with the law.

 ”This is what happened when he is not asked to apologize. This member is really out of order, and if you refuse to discipline him if he can call me a boy, what if I would call you ‘gial,’ and it will just strike off the record? That would be the most disrespectful thing. I demand an apology from him, Madam Speaker, and if we don’t get that, then we are gone,” Faber said.

The four members of the Opposition present at the House of Representatives meeting then walked out.

“I will put on the record, even though there is only one side of this House here, that I find the parliamentary parlance descending, and on my watch, I will do my darn best not to have that be repeated. I do not find it cute, or do I find it exemplary, using the terminologies that have been used, some of which I recognize I missed, and for that, I will work on that for future sessions. Terms like ‘boy’, ‘lee gial’, references to members other [than] by their title or their area that they are a member representing, is not acceptable parlance,” Speaker Woods then said.

During an interview outside the House after the walkout, Hon. Faber stated that the use of the term “boy” by Espat was clearly racist. “Julius Espat has got to be put on a rein; somebody has got to reel him in. He is out of order, and he is not what this country needs for good governance,” he said..

For his part, Espat chalked the seemingly racist and belittling remark up to the everyday conversational terms used by every Belizean who speaks Kriol. “In Belize, you go inna any area and say ‘Weh di go on, my bwai?” he said.

While Espat claimed that he used the term “boy” due to rules that restrict the use of Kriol in the House, he said that he used the term to refer to Faber’s immaturity and it was not meant to have racist overtones. The recording from the House meeting and the tone of the remark do not seem to support his claim, that the term was used in its local context.