During the UDP's press conference today, Michael Peyrefitte publicly called out NGO Senator Osmany Salas for not making any rebuttal to Senator Courtenay at Wednesday's budget debate.
This evening, via a Facebook broadcast, Salas shared the views which he inexplicably opted not to disclose at the Senate:
Hon. Osmany Salas, NGO Senator
"I was tempted to speak up on the matter when my turn at the microphone arrived, but I will myself to stick to my prepared points related directly to the proposed national budget. I had the distinct feeling that the minister and his colleague in the house of representative before him purposely choose to bring up the TNC land purchase initiative known as the Belize Maya Forest Project during the budget debates for one main reason, the government officials sensational announcement of what they called the "TNC Scandal" would have the media all over it and it worked. The phantom scandal is all over the news competing head to head with what was taken up a good portion of the air time. That's the government's proposal to cut the wages of public officers by 10%. I stayed on point in my budget remarks and focus on 3 major items that should be in the minds of most of my fellow Belizeans, 1. The massive public debt, 2. The government's recovery plan, including the public wage bill and the augmentation of tax revenue and 3. Corruption. I would not call the agreements related to the Belize Maya Forest Project a nefarious deal. While parliament was already dissolved when the agreements were signed, ministers still retained their executive powers and functions until the day before general elections. I do concede the point though that signing such a major agreement just days before the general elections was likely unwise and certainly bad practice and optics, given the impression that hanky panky was at play. I am convinced that there was no such hanky panky, to the contrary the Belize Maya Forest Project is good for Belize."
"If the Belize Maya Forest Project is designed to be profit making and generating wealth for private investors, I would be at the front of the line crying foul and saying what a nefarious deal that is. But that is not true at all. To the contrary, the 236 thousand acres of forest land was purchase by a coalition of conversation organizations. The property had been owed by a US based timber company for more than a decade and faced immediate risk of being cleared if the conservation coalition led by TNC had not purchase the land. The agreement with the government of Belize ensures that the property will be held in trust for the government and people of Belize for the protection and conservation of the natural ecosystems. The shareholders are the people of Belize and the ecosystems of northern Belize."
We'll have a little bit more from the UDP's press conference, and we'll show you what Leader Patrick Faber had to say about Eamon Courtenay's comments on a supposed scandal at NICH.
