And the orange economy was the highlight of the first day of the summit, but, noticeably, there weren't many - if any at all - musicians or artists - who would make up the orange economy - present at the event. Barrow pointed this out today, but says that he is still rooting for growth in this sector.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"So besides the Prime Minister's usual clown show, they didn't even have anyone there from the orange economy, but they're talking about the orange economy. As I said, the Briceno administration has become one big clown show, one comedy show, and nobody takes this government serious anymore. And we're going to see in March of 2024 how serious the Belizean people are with their discuss. But definitely I support the orange economy. I come from the orange economy. I would like to see greater investments in the orange economy, even when we discuss the Belizean International Music and Food Festival in the house I raise my complaints as to how the artists were treated, but I did not say that we should divest from such a festival, but we should make sure that the money's being spent are worthwhile in the sense of the return, making sure that there was no wastage there."
"But I do believe that festivals like that take a while to get off the ground, but we need to make sure that there's competitive bidding as to the people that are promoting, marketing, managing the process for the government so that they can get a greater return and there's not just these budgets that are put together that are stacked so that cronies and nepotistic affiliates can suck the blood of the people. But definitely I would like to see greater investment in the orange economy, a practical investment and let's start now. I don't know what the plan is that they presented. Again, it would be nice that they share these things with the opposition."
