Turning now to politics, the UDP held a 90-minute press conference today on national issues. The party called the press to its headquarters where party executive members, senators and shadow ministers made presentations on subjects that are much in the news: from the cutback in the grocery bag program, to the mass termination of open vote workers, to the planned re - opening of the free zone.
We start with the Grocery Bag cutbacks where the minister announced earlier this week that "everybody cyahh get" due to cutback in government finances. This was called food pantry and Food assistances programs during the UDP - and today, the party's Mesop representative said that is unconscionable:
Hon. Moses "Shyne" Barrow - Area Rep, Mesop "How will the people feed themselves? For the minister of human development to say, well certainly everybody can't get and that's it, no. They found 14 million dollars to fix street that we can't eat in this supplementary budget that they just tabled in the house. We don't need those streets right here and right now, that is not urgent with the exception of maybe where the street completely fell on the highway and we needed that to pass but those other millions of dollars could go to the people who are unemployed because of COVID19. How could you under the circumstances where you know people can't work, it is not an instance where, give them job, give them which job? The businesses are restricted, the businesses have to close at 8 o'clock, some of them have to close from 7 to give you time to get home. So, what are the Belizean people to do? Who do they go to if not the PUP administration, the government? You control the coffers, you control the public finances, the people trusted the PUP administration to deliver for them and again, this essential, this is not a luxury, it is not a privilege to have food."
