In August of 2009 - Prime Minister Dean Barrow went to the House of Representatives to take over BTL. When he did that 23 months ago, he surely didn't expect that he'd have to go back two years later and do it all over again.
But that's just what he had to do today to put an end to a week of corporate confusion at Telemedia where the Ashcroft Alliance was claiming and to some extent, trying to exercise control over Telemedia's Affairs - even as the Government appointed board continued to occupy and run the place.
So the Prime Minister went back to the house today to re-take Telemedia. It's a move with nationalist overtones, so there was some uncertainty as to what position the Opposition would take - after two of the senior deputies shot out on Friday in support of the re-nationalization.
But the Opposition neither supported nor rejected - they had something else planned - here's how it all went down:
Jules Vasquez Reporting:
While about 400 UDP supporters gathered on the Assembly stairs, PUP standard bearers crowded the gallery - making a visible presence...but it would be short lived because as the meeting started their leader - absent two of his senior deputy leaders - took a turn in this direction.
Hon. John Briceno - Leader of the Opposition
"We from this House, Mr. Speaker, I think that the Prime Minister owes it to us and to the rest of this nation that before you can properly proceed in the second reading acquisition of BTL, that the Prime Minister's obligation to us and to the people of this country is tell us and to explain the cost to the Belizean people and the consequences of the first failed acquisition, what has been declared unconstitutional."
Speaker of the House
"Leader of the Opposition, this is not the time for that comment. You are not saying a point of order. You are free to proceed with your comments on the debate."
Hon. John Briceno
"That is the problem Mr. Speaker. That they do not allow us, here on this side of the house, to bring this issue to be able to bring this issue even before I start, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker this thing is unconstitutional, man. So allow us - if you could allow us to make the point Mr. Speaker that is the problem that we are having. If you are to listen, we need a clarification."
Speaker of the House
"Members of the Gallery, Honorable member, I have made the ruling, and I will allow the Prime Minister to proceed."
Hon. John Briceno
"Mr Speaker, we cannot just sit here and just allow this thing to continue. This whole behavior of this Government is illegal. It's fraud. This is dictatorship."
And on that note, the representatives and the Standard bearers marched out in a clearly staged exit - to the wild cheers of the UDP supporters who filled the Gallery. The representatives walked out to applause from their standard bearers - and howls from the opposition reporters. While the Opposition supporters continued their howls of protest, the Leader of the Opposition left the meeting hearing those same howls. And inside the house again, half of it was empty and the Prime Minister was free to take a generous swipe at the now absent opposition:
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"The Opposition is in the pay of a well-known master. I wonder if we should not begin to refer to them as the Ashcroft United Party. Except, I supposed Mr. Speaker, it would have to be the Ashcroft Disunited Party, since the member for Albert and Lake Independence are obviously not on the same page as they rest of them. I salute those two only."
And while the PM played up to the dissenting PUP Senior Deputies and played up to the audience, he was measured in his introduction of the Bill for an Act to amend the Belize Telecommunications Act, basically to re- acquire the same BTL property that was taken in August 2009:
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"This Bill that I am introducing therefore fixes the defects in the original law and does so with retrospective effect. So, Mr. Speaker, we have reloaded and are ready to go. And what we are doing is the essence of compliance with the rule of law. We don't agree with the Court of Appeal but we are bound by it. We therefore act now in accordance with those Court of Appeal dictates. Mr. Speaker, this is not about personalities, it is about principles: principles of public welfare, principles of cultural advance, principles of national security; principles that make clear that in all the circumstances, control of telecommunications, via the dominant provider, must be in the hands of Government."
That's a new policy positions which the Prime Minister elaborated on in his closing:
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"I wish to declare that we in the UDP believe that the restoration of Government control over utilities- water, electricity and telecommunications-is an expression of perhaps the most dominant public purpose there can be. These utilities fall into a special category. And consistent with Government's charge to safeguard the nation, utilities ought not to be the subject of unbridled privatization. We declare today that we intend to constitutionally entrench Government's majority ownership of utilities so that no future Administration would be able to upset that ownership."
And with that populist flourish - the PM concluded his introduction and went down to the crowd for some flesh pressing and glad handing - but it will be left to be seen whether he can make the wider community similarly gush at his bold new public utility public ownership push.
After the House meeting adjourned at 1:30, the Senate met at 3:00 and also approved the legislation. Senator Godwin Hulse seemed to take the position that, having just gotten the legislation before the meeting and having not read it, he would neither vote for or against. But no division was taken, so we can't say that he did or did not vote in its favor.
Whatever the case, it was passed by the senate - and before 5:00 this evening, the Governor General signed his assent. The minister of Public Utilities Elvin Penner will tomorrow make a Statutory Instrument laying out the public purpose for the acquisition.
