The state of the nation address, it's an innovation put in place by the Musa administration when it was first elected in 1998. The address replaced the governor general's throne speech, which was seen as a post-colonial anachronism. And since then, every year it's been a feel-good stock-taking of the government's work, more liberal than the budget speech, more comprehensive than the Independence Day address, in fact, the broadest, most ambitious address given annually by the prime minister. This year it found him in the thick of the most pressing political and operational crisis of this or any administration. How did the pm handle it? Well, you be the judge:
Jules Vasquez Reporting
In the open air of the entrance plaza to the administration building under a sweltering 95-degree day, the prime minister addressed a gallery of invited guests and the senate. As has become tradition, the opposition boycotted the day's events. And they missed the prime minister in a cute moment, seeming to take blame for playing fast and loose with social security money, while covering himself from personal culpability as past minister of finance:
Hon. Said Musa - Prime Minister
"I do not for one moment deny that the government must accept responsibility for whatever errors or shortcomings there are in the administration of the people's business. We lay no claim to political infallibility. What we do lay claim to is a firm determination to take whatever corrective measures are necessary." "So, yes, it was a calculated risk for the Social Security Board to hold mortgages for some 1800 individual homeowners valued at approximately 53 million dollars." "Yes, it was a calculated risk to lend the DFC 43 million dollars of SSB money." "And, yes, it was a calculated risk in the interest of promoting a new IT industry and competition in the telecommunications industry for SSB to guarantee loans of 31 million dollars. We have now received confirmation that Belize Telecom Limited will be purchasing the assets of Intelco, which will account for the principal part of the Godfrey group's outstanding debt securitized through Social Security. In other words Social Security funds will have been secured." "In looking back, it is clear that some of these investments required greater oversight and due diligence." "Yes, we have made errors of judgment but they have all been of honest intention and due at times to excessive exuberance. But history will prove that they pale in comparison to the successes and record of achievements."
And while the prime minister has absolved himself and claimed "honest intentions", it's still unclear if a senate inquiry will do the same. But the prime minister has appearances on his side and even as public perception of honesty on public life seems to be at a low, for the prime minister, fresh form a cabinet bloodletting the straight and narrow path never looked so clear.
Hon. Said Musa
"My government made anti-corruption reform a main plank in our electoral platform last year. Under the heading "Good Governance" in our Party Manifesto 'Keep Belize Free', we stated that "Any dishonesty or corruption in public life poses a threat to democracy, produces instability and slows down economic growth."
And in the end the prime minister made it clear that whatever growth is achieved will be hard won:
"Today, let me state bluntly that our nation continues to face serious financial constraints which call for early development of an appropriate macro?economic and budgetary strategy." "Our country calls not for the life of ease but for the life of strenuous endeavour......." "Let us therefore boldly face the life of hard, unsparing effort, resolute in our duty to create a better life for all Belizeans, to uphold righteousness by deed and by word, and to render service for the common good."
"Hard unsparing effort..., strenuous endeavor, common good" - sounds like a young socialist in 1974 all over again mouthing what must surely must be the words that sound the final death knell for growth economics and the unsustainable feast it once promised.
In his speech, the prime minister disclosed the magic number so well guarded by Taiwanese president Chen. According to Musa, the government of Taiwan will also be assisting Belize with an additional $20 million dollars as part of the debt restructuring programme. P.M. Musa did not specify the currency, but compared to past generosity which has regularly been in the 100 million dollar range over a 5 year term, this is considered a modest contribution