In September of 1998, new Prime Minister Said Musa made a radical departure from the traditional throne speech. He took the House meeting outside - in the style of one of his party's people's assemblies - and gave the speech himself as the head of government. The custom had been that the head of state, the Governor General would deliver it. It was a liberating post colonial idea in 1998 and this year the PM made an even further departure. Instead of using the state of the nation address to recap of the year past and forecast of the one ahead; the PM abandoned formula and went for a rounder, more circumspect approach. He looked back not on the past year, but on his administration's past 10 years. A daring departure and here's how the experiment went.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister
"I am here to answer the question: did we make Belize a better place?"
And for the Prime Minister making his tenth state of the nation address - the tenth time outdoors - and the tenth time the opposition did not attend, that answer came in the shortest address in those ten years. It was direct, unadorned and often apologetic.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"It is easy today to dwell on what wrong and what wasn't done. Things go wrong everyday in every country in world, big or small. That is expected. What matters is how it is handled."
And according to Musa, his government has handled it the right way.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"The Senate fearlessly investigated abuses at Social Security Board. We could have blocked it but we didn't. We encouraged it. Just think back when there were in power the only investigations were against us. Today we pay for high priced commissions of inquiry into our own government agencies. Their government just used to sweep wrongdoings under the carpet. Let's be honest, this kind of open culture wasn't always there. We made it happen."
Whether they made it happen or were forced to make it happen to appease an outraged electorate is a greater debate. But today the Prime Minister wasn't about to debate; he was matter of fact.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"If you're the kind of person who prefers to pick at a mistake in a textbook rather than appreciate that free standardized textbooks is a good thing for the educational system, as the major primary school managers have done, I can never hope to convince you that we have made the education system better."
And so while he admitted that after 9 years there are some who can't be convinced of his government's good works and intentions - he stressed that on the balance, things are better.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"Did we make Belize a better for you and your children? In judging us remember not only when we fell short but also our great achievements. Weigh them fairly and objectively."
And with that, Musa went from statecraft to straight up sloganeering.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"We have to believe in Belize. At times the road ahead is cloudy. At times we may seem to lost our way but we the Belizean people, under the leadership of the PUP, will keep moving ahead towards that land of hope and promise that all Belizeans deserve to inhabit."
The speech took only 20 minutes to deliver, making it the shortest and, might we add, simplest state of the nation address that the Prime Minister has delivered. At only 2,200 words, it was 40% shorter than last year's 3,831 words, and 65% shorter than the epic 2004 speech - delivered right after the G-7 crisis. That one was 5,983 words long. And we should note that while, as per custom, the Opposition did not attend the outdoor sitting neither did two backbenchers of note: Mark Espat and John Briceno were not present.
