This afternoon the Prime Minister discussed those difficult last years, and told the press that he is ashamed and that we should all be.
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I think that was a dark period in her life and also for us as Belizeans that we do not take care of the people that have stood up for us especially in times of need and that have created this modern country that we call Belize and that we're supposed to love so much. So yes it is something that we should all be ashamed about what happened that once she was changed that there was no retirement or no pension for her, and so that is I think a blight on all of us it is something that we should look at, and I think we should hang our heads in shame that, that is what happened to the first Governor-General. That is why one of the things we have to do is look at the present governor general who has served so well from 1993 and still working even at the age of 90 - that we have to make sure that when he retires that we have a pension that he would be able to look at after himself with some sense of dignity. So we owe an apology to Dame Minita Gordon and her family for the way she was treated and we have to make sure that as a country we never ever do that to people that have served us so selflessly."
After Dame Minita's decline and descent into public spectacle, Helpage and the Ministry of Housing intervened decisively to clean up her home and to contact relatives, who took her away to the US where she was properly looked after.
