Students like UB's Belize City campus President Moses Sulph who had a back and forth with the Prime Minister at the forum last Thursday. It was passed over in all the furor and scenery that erupted outside the forum but for posterity, we replay that exchange tonight between a young radical, and a self-professed old radical.
Moses Sulph,
"In your speech you said that one thing leads to another. Well I'm happy you stated that. In the light that one thing leads to another if there wasn't a Social Security mismanagement of money, if there wasn't a education scandal, if there wasn't the telephone business then there would have been no strikes in the first place. If there wasn't an increase in taxes due to the previous money that was mismanaged from increased in taxes then there would not have been this strike. We have to look at the foundation of the problem and why these strikes had to arise. If I protested before these hadn't been done there wouldn't have been no strike right now. Nobody wants to be out of school in the sun standing out there, nobody wants that."
Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
"If you expect that there is any government that does not face difficult economic decisions that have to be made, if you expect there is any government that is perfect that does not have to run calculated risks and dangers in making decisions then you're living in an illusion, in a romantic world. Every government faces difficulties, every government faces problems and regularities in its administration."
Moses Sulph,
"But again we understand the situation but basically as students I still want you to understand that if it was UDP in power it would be the same situation right now."
Hon. Said Musa,
"We are doing something about it."
Moses Sulph,
"We don't care whose in power. We don't care which party is in power. We care about the policies they put in place. Our thing is that we want to make sure that our children of tomorrow will be able to live in this country and this is our country right now and this is what we are striving for. Politics has nothing to do with it and we do not condone that."
Hon. Said Musa,
"I have absolutely no problem with that, with what you are saying. I have no quarrel with that. What I am saying is that often times the Opposition Party has been manipulating people to do their bidding that is what I am saying. That has been happening. You check it out for yourself. I know everybody want to say they are not PUP and they are not UDP but we know otherwise; let us be true to ourselves."
Moses Sulph,
"I am not afraid to say that the last time I voted, I voted for PUP. But that is not my point right now. If I had voted for UDP and UDP was in the same mess that we're in right now, we would have been out there in full force too."
Hon. Said Musa,
"I'll repeat to you Mr. Sulph what I said at the very beginning, I don't know if you weren't here, that I respect the right of students to protest. I respect your right to hold your opinion, I respect your right to do what you think is necessary to get your opinion across. If you didn't do that I would be very disappointed with you as university students; university students all over the world do that. I understand that. I was a university student one time. I was a radical in my time too, please understand that. But what I'm saying is we also to keep an open mind. We also have to rely on facts and we also have to do reasoned analysis before we jump to conclusions. What I am asking for from the student body of the University of Belize is this: I laid out today the reform program that this government has been carrying out. I listed to you the 11 points that we agreed with the unions, signed a document that this government is honoring and carrying out. I am saying to you let us give the reform process a chance."
Moses Sulph is out on bail on charges of stoning a police vehicle and trespassing on the property of two schools.
