Today the House of Representatives met in Belmopan and while Government had much pressing business to pass before the House, including a US$25 million loan from Venezuela, and legislation for a rate of income tax on petroleum companies, the day opened with a statement from the Prime Minister on a far more urgent issue: crime. The Prime Minister said there's no end to the shock and shame, but the Opposition had another interpretation.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
"It is difficult to find the words to describe the shock and shame of many Belizeans as a result of several particularly violent murders and sexual crimes that have occurred since the start of this year. These sensational crimes have been accompanied by a high profile string of holdups let by Guatemalan bandits targeting our tourism industry in the Cayo District. Understandably, while the overall level of crimes in our country may not have increased during this period, the nature of these particular crimes, signal crimes as criminologists would call them, have been so gruesome, so utterly repugnant, that the Belizean public risks becoming unnerve, we risk losing our will to battle crimes and criminals.
Frankly it's impossible to offer reason to certain level of violence and perversions. For example who can explain the gangland murder of the Brannon brothers in front of their home reportedly over a necklace. How can human begins chop, maim, and then ritually burn a young family of three in their home. How can a stepfather sexually assault his underage daughter allegedly in broad daylight on a usually busy in Belize City. Or how can a couple collude, allegedly, to rape an underage neighbor. These are not crimes preventable by any police department, anywhere in the world. These are arbitrary crimes born of inhuman disrespect for life.
The Y-Focus Group that led the march against crime in Belize City last Friday reflects the frustration of the vast majority of the Belizean people who are fatigued and worried about their own safety and numbed from the sensational news reports of these signal crimes, each one seemingly more brutal, more heinous, than the last."
After that sweeping introduction the Prime Minister went on to refer non specifically to what his government is doing about it in what he calls the fight against crime and criminals.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"The investments that our government has made in the crime war have been unprecedented in financial and human resources. The annual budget for law enforcement has increased from $14.8 million in 1998 to $33.2 million today. I cite a sampling of this list of investment and initiatives not to deflect blame, but to reaffirm my government's recognition of the crime problem."
But for the Opposition it's not enough.
Hon. Dean Barrow, UDP Leader
"We were told about the investments that the government has made, we were told about government's concerns, but we weren't told very much about exactly what it is that government will be doing from this day forward in terms of concrete programs, concrete initiatives to deal with the situation."
According to the Leader of Opposition, government needs to have a plan and needs to show leadership.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"The Prime Minister spoke today because of the unprecedented level of crisis that we are facing where this situation is concerned. It is not part
of his speech today, his intervention is not part of any kind of continuing engagement of the populace over this issue. When was the last time that a press conference was held to not just speak to the nation by of an intervention in the House, which is protected, which is shielded from any kind of back and forth, which is shielded from probing, from questioning on the part of the media, on the part of the public. When last was that done?
There really is no sense of any continuing engagement with this problem. We seem to stagger, to lurch from crisis to crisis. Every time there's this upsurge we make a statement and we offer nice words, we offer a rhetoric of comfort, and then we seem to lapse back into business as usual, it cannot continue. There is no sense of leadership that is being demonstrated by the government. There is no sense of any continuing serious interaction with the community. The Prime Minister or his Minister or somebody ought to be touring this country, meeting with communities, telling people exactly what the blueprint is going forward and that should be followed up by a kind of continuing process."
But according to the Prime Minister that leadership must come also from the community.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"Just as we do not seek today to shirk our government's role in fighting crime, so too must all segments of society recognize the contribution that they must make to a safer, more peaceful Belize. These partners in fighting crime must include parents, educators, priests and pastors, businessmen and women, neighbors and potential witnesses. We must also ask ourselves which convicted criminal or accused criminal is without parents. Which ones did not teachers or were not part of a church congregation at some point in his or her life. How many did not work in organizations and alongside other employees. We have to be honest without ourselves and admit that over the years, as adults, we have been failing in our duty to promote a standard of behavior on the next generation. Discipline has been sacrificed on the altar of selfishness and a moral relativism that denies our traditional sense of right or wrong."
But according to on representative nowhere is that sense of right and wrong more skewed than in Musa's government.
Hon. Patrick Faber, Collet Area Rep. (UDP)
"And we want to know why our young men, in particular our young people out there are involved in all of this crime and we want to clamp down on crime Madam Speaker but crime is very evident in high places in this country."
But according to Musa, the fall in community standards is not the fault of his government, it's popular culture that's to blame.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"Television has profoundly affected our lives. Many families spend more time watching TV than talking to each other. The glamorization of violence on our TV screens seem to have no limits. We are bombarded on the airwaves by preachers of hate and music with anti-women lyrics with females routinely described as bitches and whores. There is no moral outrage about all that is disrespectful, indecent, irreverent, and offensive."
And according to the Prime Minister, now the free airwaves are being misused.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"This government has a proud record of freeing the airwaves. Our media policy has allowed diversity of views t flourish. Freedom of expression is fully protected as a constitutional right. But when this freedom is being systematically abused and exploited to instill hate, violence, and deviant behavior, it is time for the Belizean Broadcasting Authority to act. This is a call for action."
A call for action that the Leader of the Opposition says it too blank, too general.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"What we have heard today, while it is a start, in the end, if we are to be honest, falls woefully short in terms of it being the initiation of concrete plan of action. We need, we deserve, and we demand more; much more."
In related news, today Attorney General Francis Fonseca introduced 3 criminal justice reform bills.
