Speaking at a press conference this morning, Opposition leader Dean Barrow says that there is a clear loss of confidence from the Cabinet.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"In any government, if you sustain the kinds of blows that result from the dismissal of Cordel and Mark and from the departure that is bound to happen no later than Monday of Johnny Briceno and perhaps in the days to follow Eamon Courtenay, you fix the date for general elections. No government can afford to lose four, five members of Cabinet, perhaps a pair or so of backbenchers and claim that it is any longer in a position to say that it still enjoys a mandate.
Why is the Prime Minister so absolutely stubborn in the face of the facts. This is not the UDP saying that he needs to resign, this is basically his own party saying that he has to resign. It doesn't matter that there, for now, appears to be a majority of his parliamentary caucus that will support him. In our current scenario, there is at best only a few months to go.
This man would actually prefer to put the country through this thrum, to contemplate the possibility of, I don't want to engage in hyperbole, but it is almost, at least the possibility of a kind of Armageddon rather than doing the only thing that the circumstances and the members of his own party, the Ministers of his own Cabinet are forcing on him, and resigning and calling the elections. It actually defies comprehension and I say again that if anything onward happens, it is on him. Not on the people and certainly not on the UDP."
And as the Prime Minister contemplates the political abyss that the possible departure of four ministers represents, the question tonight is, will he again put off a vote - and thus buy some time? We do know that it is a proposal that has been put to him, and it is one among many that he is considering. At news time though, best indications are that the Prime Minister should hold form and go ahead with the second and third readings. By tomorrow, we should know.
Notably, the Teachers' Union is also not waiting around for that. The union this evening issued a release saying that it will stage a peaceful rally and demonstration in Belmopan on Friday. It is calling on teachers, parents, students and concerned Belizeans to join.
