At Friday's budget sitting, PUP representatives Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde made parliamentary history when they voted against the budget. Well today we found out that they would have made that history even more dramatic if they had been allowed to make their presentations. But that opportunity was denied them when the Prime Minister made the unprecedented step of winding up the budget debate about 5 hours before it would have actually finished. But, undeterred, backbenchers Hyde and Espat today held a press encounter where they read those presentations in full. For those who were there to hear or who listened on radio it was an earful, and a massive unrepentant indictment of government.
Mark Espat, Albert Area Representative
"Madam Speaker I am here on behalf of the people of Albert. You can confirm that as I rise to make this statement, there is no halo around my head."
Though the language was parliamentary it wasn't the National Assembly, instead Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde supporters overfilled a conference room at the Radisson to cheer on their representatives in speeches that they never got to make when Friday's House sitting was cut short. And maybe with indictments like these, we can see why the PM pulled the plug early:
Mark Espat,
"Faced with this budget I proudly adopt the position of this unions, I shall not be moved and therefore I am a member of the PUP but I cannot support this budget on the following grounds. Firstly, $91 million in additional revenue measures will punish the masses of the Belizean people; the working poor and the middle class. The overall budget targets appear unrealistic at best and at worst, proposed to return to return us to the pre-August pattern of adjusting the figures to suit our targets or as one journalist has put it: 'cooking the books.' Fourth, those who can pay or should pay are not being called upon to bear the burden of this major adjustment. This budget suffers from multiple deficits, not just a chronic financial deficit but also a democratic deficit, a credibility deficit, and an equity deficit. "
"This budget must be viewed in the context of the rapidly widening divide between those who have much in our society and those who have little or nothing. We have truly become a tale of two nations: one tiny nation championing a tale, a fairy tale at times, of GDP growth and prosperity and another sprawling national unable to put bread on the table. But those who have little or nothing are also made in the image and likeness of God. They love their children and their families too. "
"I understand the anger and the frustration of the unions. They do not wish to be taken for what Creole call: 'fini bucu' or 'cunu munu.'"
Cordel Hyde, Lake Independence Representative
"The south side of Belize City is hurting and when they hurt, I hurt. They say that we on the south side should be happy because we will be getting $2 million for basic infrastructure projects. Madam Speaker that's good but that's not good enough. That's not good enough when you spend $20 million on the Marine Parade, $50 million on Mahogany Heights, and $44 million on the dredging of the Port of Belize City. That is not enough."
"Our poor constituents don't have a choice, they get dragged to court every week when they can't find the money to pay their property taxes, sometimes for a less than a $100. Madam Speaker 50% of the labor force earns less than $720 a month. 25% of all our people who work earn less than $120 a week. When you touch a $1 or $2 from a man making a $120 a week it hurts. $2 more in bills is the difference between having a meal to eat and putting your children to bed hungry. And Madam Speaker God knows there are a lot of people putting their children to bed hungry many nights."
"Madam Speaker we are becoming too much for the rich and not enough for the poor and to paraphrase the Jamaican artist Tanya Stephens, 'if we don't spend enough on the poor, we won't have enough to protect the rich.' We on this side of the House have to burn with the gospel of the poor and use that flame to light up their lives. What is good for the poor is good for Belize, what is bad for the poor is bad for Belize. Madam how can I support a budget that doesn't support my people."
And these two south side representatives, now taking on the proverbial stance of those fish from 'riva bottom' admit, they languished in the depths too long.
Mark Espat,
"You can confirm that as I rise to make this statement there is no halo around my head. I accept full responsibility for my membership in the Cabinet since 1998. There have been times before that I should have spoken more plainly and more openly to my colleagues and to the people and I chose not to do so."
Cordel Hyde,
"I don't stand before you as a saint, none of us are. In hindsight, we should have been more open with the people. We should have done more and said more and for those shortcomings, I accept full responsibility. Our politicians, all of us, need to return to the earth. We need to leave the skies and walk with the common man. We need to remind ourselves of why we serve and why we do what we do. Madam Speaker we are not elected as representatives of the people to just tow the party line. There are times in history when the interest of the nation must come before the interest of the party, this is one such moment."
And the solution for both these Representatives is for the tax burden to be shifted.
Mark Espat,
"We need to collect the back taxes from the PIC banks for example who owe a significant amount of money at this time. We need to reduce unnecessary contract officers estimated by the unions to cost over $12.5 million per year. We need to reduce certain exemptions on those many companies that have development concessions. I am not saying that we should eliminate incentives, but instead of offering 100% let us offer 50%. Let us reduce the exemption on the companies that are in export processing zones that are profitable already. Let us tighten the stamp duties. Let us look at the corporate tax on those companies that are generating wealth. Madam Speaker back in 1998 we charged the excise tax on beer at $12 per gallon and it generated, or was to generate, $25.3 million at the level of $12 per gallon. I say let's take it back there because we can choose to drink but we must eat."
And with that solution, these Representatives, say they remain PUP.
Cordel Hyde,
"Madam Speaker I am not resigning from the People's United Party or from the House of Representatives. I will remain as the area representative for Lake Independence for as long as my people want me there. The seat is not mine or for the People's United Party. The seat belongs to the people of Lake Independence. We should be here to serve the poor. We are not here to dish for the rich, we are here to serve the country, we are not here just for the party. Madam Speaker I am a member of the People's United Party but I cannot support this budget."
Mark Espat,
"There are those who would say that by opposing this budget I am abandoning my party. To them I say that it is not I that have abandoned my party but that my party with this budget seemed to have left the people. I am confident that I speak for many PUPs and for the majority of Belizeans when I say that in this instance we have not left our party, our party has left us."
Now it's left to be seen if these outspoken and highly critical remarks on the government's most important business will see the pup really leaving these two representatives behind
And not only being insensitive to the poor, Espat also made pointed accusations against the government about lying on critical figures. Later on in our newscast we'll look at those charges, and ask these two rebel representatives if they think they have any future in the PUP.
