So, we asked the unions about Young's comment that they should be satisfied with the work the government has done so far.
And needless to say, they're definitely not content. BNTU president, Elena Smith, said even with the lack of resources, they have had 13 years to figure it out so that excuse will not work.
Courtney Menzies:
"She says the AG's ministry just doesn't have the resources to do it as quickly as they would want but the unions should be satisfied."
Elena Smith, President, BNTU
"Well do you expect her to say anything else? She's a part of the government so of course she would want to put that out there that we must be satisfied. But they cannot tell us when to be satisfied, we will be satisfied when we know that our demands are met. And until those are met, then really and truly it doesn't matter what they say in terms of what we should feel and how we should feel. We are the ones feeling, we are the ones who know. And we understand that they may have some issues in terms of their personnel, but as I've said before, this party has been waiting for 13 years to get where they are right now, they should have been preparing, if you were serious about good governance, you should have been preparing from 13 years ago that when you got in, you should have hit the ground running."
PSU's vice president, Dean Flowers, echoed Smith's words.
Dean Flowers
"For 13 years the current administration was in opposition and you mean to tell me that they didn't take the time out to enact or to draft the legislations that they say they would enacted? You're telling me that they spent millions of dollars on a campaign, millions of dollars printing a manifesto that hinge on good governance and they came into government without one drafted legislation? Am I supposed to take these guys serious?"
Reporter
"The same could be said for the other government, they were in government for 13 years and they didn't draft the legislation as well."
Dean Flowers
"And that's why they are where they are and if the people of Belize choose they will be there for a very long time. This is not about what they didn't do, this is about we are here now, we are at an impasse, an impasse that is based on good governance. So looking in the rearview mirror and trying to drive, you will crash, so let's do forward thinking. In terms of the shorter resources, you have the United Nations, we can ask for a special prosecutor; we can ask for a special drafter, we can ask them for assistance. There is the Commonwealth secretariat - these legislations don't have to be invented, there are many countries who have implemented these good governance legislations who are prospering today, so this government does not have to go and reinvent the wheel, they simply need to go and identify these legislations that are working in other countries as tailored them for Belize."
