Today marked 100 days since the Briceno Administration first went to Belmopan, riding the waves of that blue Tsunami that swept them into office.
And while the first 100 days in office are traditionally a marker of some measurable list of deliverables that form the leading edge of an agenda for change, for this administration, progress has been neither linear nor incremental. They have lurched - it seems - from crisis to crisis, epic floods in the first few weeks of office, to a raging COVID outbreak, to, of course, the ongoing economic meltdown.
And so, today, there was no triumphant press conference or Prime Ministerial address - we are told those will come next week.
But, much has happened in public life since November 11th, and I looked back at some of it today:
It's been 100 Days since the PUP won the landslide election and formed the government of Belize. And since then they like any new mid-pandemic regime have had their highs and their lows.
Their first move was to get Cattle rolling. 600 Heads of Cattle Cross Border in a Week
And roll they did with 600 heads crossing the border in Mid-November alone.
And in other border issues nortenos had their Cayucos back within 2 weeks of the BLU wave win.
And the GSU - in name at least was one of the first to go - it became the Gi3.
The new government also took a bold step in the establishment of a national holiday to celebrate the life and legacy of the Rt. Hon George Cadle Price.
A day whose spirit was marred by mass firings of dozens of transport department employees.
And two days later one minister told us that these are decisions that every new government in their time are forced to make.
Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Public Utilities and Logistics
"I who am a human being and I have a soft heart, it was not my intention but if I did I'm damned, if I don't I'm damned because my people are expecting me to provide for them."
And back in November the PM had to decide just how to reward those who'd been his campaign generals in a series of appointments that at the time we said, raised the politically undead.
Still, there was at least one bright young C.E.O. Another who didn't make it through the first quarter.
And one Minister of State who was straight up rejected by his Minister. One thing that's remained constant in the PUP's first 100 days has been the controversial appointments of family members of minister - at least two dozen.
It's a state of affairs that the PM famously justified as follows:
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister
"The question that we need - that I would rather you ask [is] about the quality of the people that I am appointing. I believe that I have appointed, with consultations with the different ministers, ministries, and everybody else, people who are qualified. Now, if I had just appointed people just because they are family members of a minister or my friend - whatever - and they are not qualified, then I think you have every right to be able to make a case. But, when you're looking at just say 20 out of hundreds of people that we have to appoint, Belize is a small society. We have limited talent."
One thing for sure those talented individuals in government will have to get the country's finances in order, and quickly if they hope to change the current state of COVID affairs.
And back in September as PM Briceno made his first address to the United Nations he pleaded Belize's case, and that of other small island developing nations who've struggled to make ends meet during COVID.
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister of Belize
"We did what we could, we repurposed where possible and barred when we could ill afford it but now, the situation grows more urgent. The existing resources are about to dry up and the debtors are waiting at the door."
The Ashcroft Alliance didn't have to wait anymore - their long pending review for the acquisition of Scotia Bank Belize was approved within days of the government taking office.
And from the Media's vantage point there has been concern, that while the start of the start of the pandemic was marked by regular prime ministerial press conferences, the PUP's first 100 days hasn't yielded a single one.
We'll excuse the two weeks in which the PM himself was infected with COVID-19, during which time he found himself chairing cabinet meetings via Zoom.
And he only one of 6 from his government who contracted COVID. They even lost one area rep before he could even be sworn in.
But while the new government mourned they've had to deal with the business at hand much of which has been focused on the survival of a struggling nation,
And the hard decisions, prompted by a post-election COVID spike that had to be made.
Michel Chebat - Minister of Health
"Starting on Saturday the 28th of November a curfew will be implemented from 9 PM to 5 AM this will last for a period of 21 days."
Cherisse Halsall - Reporter
"That spike, it comes with a curve. What are the experts saying about that curve? Is it now trending down?"
Hon. Michel Chebat- Minister of Health
"No it is not trending down as yet. We expect the spike to be somewhere in January, around the middle of January. So we do anticipate that we are going to have continuing numbers of positive cases coming out."
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"All funds were spent before November 11th. They left $1 million dollars for the food pantry or the grocery bags or whatever it is you want to call it. They left $1 million. The $10.5 million that has just come in towards that, the government had already spent it, they borrowed it from Central Bank. So that has to be paid. So we just decided in Cabinet that we are going to make the monies available to continue that program at least until the end of this financial year."
And while social programs remain under incredible strain the government seems to be coming through with the COVID vaccines. Back in December we were told that the IDB would facilitate the vaccination of at least 30% of Belize's population.
The Briceno Administration has also begun to prod into the misdeeds of their predecessors exposing major fraud, confiscating government assets.
And doing their due diligence to find out the whereabouts, profits or lack thereof, of everything that the UDP sold off.
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow- Former Prime Minister
"He either wrote to or called Joe Waight about the purchase of furniture that for the most part, he tells me, was furniture specially treated. I will need to be delicate. Furniture consisting of a couch and some chairs that had to be acquired with certain dimensions and size specifications in mind and in addition had to be reinforced because of senator Peyrefitte's size and weight. His finance officer said to him: why don't you apply to buy these things off of them? Nobody else can use it. They were specially adjusted for you. And so, in that context he spoke to the Financial Secretary but a letter did come from the vehicle care unit saying that these pieces of furniture he was advising needed to be disposed of. Now, I know that included in what was sold to Senator Peyrefitte was a laptop."
"And an ipad I believe."
It's been 100 days of growing pains and settling in and there have been some embarrassments and some controversy:
Dean Flowers - Vice-President, PSU
"The country is suffering. People are suffering, and people are expecting the government to come to their aid."
With the Briceno Administration's biggest accomplishment to date being the obvious lowering of the curve which to date has drastically reduced both our death and positivity rates.
And that offers a bit of hope, hope that even in a world where parliament has to look like like this, that this now not so new government can find its way through the most challenging period in Belize's history.
As you heard, the Prime Minister Briceno is reportedly planning an address and a press conference for next week.
