Assad Shoman currently serves as a Senator, a Minister, Chief Foreign Affairs Representative and non-resident Ambassador to Cuba and Spain, a powerful man in the Musa administration, but reports to 7NEWS are that Shoman plans to leave the Musa Cabinet. 7NEWS has received credible reports which suggest that Minister of National Development Shoman has informed the Prime Minister that he will resign from Cabinet.
According to our information, all that's being worked on now is the timing which we are told may be sooner rather than later. Things might have been speeded up last week when Shoman lost a pivotal battle in Cabinet. We are told that Shoman strongly supported the position that Belize enter a standby arrangement with the IMF. Shoman's position was that under the sway of the still influential former Finance Minister Ralph Fonseca, government will have difficulty meeting its targets. His departure now is seen by government insiders as a victory for Fonseca. The two men have long been professional adversaries and long competed in some sense to be Chief Counselor to Prime Minister Said Musa. Musa and Shoman have been best friends their entire adult lives, but Fonseca is Musa's closest and apparently most indispensable political ally.
Shoman's insertion into Cabinet after the G-7 rift in August of 2004 was seen as the installation of a true loyalist, counsellor and conscience to counterbalance Fonseca's free market preferences. Shoman made his position on Fonseca-nomics clear when, in March of this year, as Minister of National Development, he spoke at a conference on poverty explaining that the rich of this country have too much.
Assad Shoman, Minister of National Development
[March, 2005] "Obviously this so called free market economy is part of the reason why there is poverty in Belize. So realty the truth is that you cannot eliminate poverty if you don't look at the underlining policies that you have created poverty. The gap between the rich and the poor is bigger today than it was 10 years ago. If the people who are poor will that ask question 'why we are poor,' and then they will not come to the conclusion that it is their fault which is what the rest of people want them to believe; they lazy, they neva tek opportunity to go to school, they bad that's why are poor.' If they were to conclude that, that is a lie. The reason is not that. But the reason is, what is the reason Dwayne, you know what I'm saying, something else. Maybe something to do with the economic system, maybe something to do with the distribution of wealth system, maybe something to do with the fact that in Belize, for example, 2% of the land owners own 80% of the land. That makes sense or doesn't make sense? And if they start to question that then certain are in trouble. That's why its bad to ask why we poor but we have to ask that."
6 days after that presentation on March 9th, Fonseca countered with a pro-capitalist address at the opening of the Princess Hotel in the Corozal Free Zone. He said "there is always much talk about alleviating poverty. Reckless members of our society with selfish agenda, today champion unreasonable causes with unfounded accusations and proudly pronounce their attack on our democracy and disregard for our traditional stability....we even have some today calling for a change from our capitalist system. Fortunately these are a small minority, but a vocal one that can confuse those of us who wake up early in the morning and go to bed late at night working to build Belize....the challenge for those of us who work and believe in our system is to have capitalism thrive without the need for poverty." While Fonseca's retort was not taped and did not get the same airplay as Shoman's provocative remarks in the end, the game is to the man still standing, and it's clear that in the battle for balance between the social and capital conscience of the Musa administration, Fonseca managed to tip the scales in his favor.
And while our reports say Shoman will leave the cabinet, it is not known if he will stay on as Chief Foreign Affairs Representative and Ambassador to Cuba and Spain.
