And while that western Minister says we're gonna be fine - the Ministers in the Belize District don't feel that way.
In that past three weeks, both black PUP Representatives on the southside, Cordel Hyde and Gilroy Usher have spoken up against the state-level decision taken to send sugar south, creating major losses in earnings for Belize City's stevedores.
In their public comments, they have portrayed a Cabinet where there is little concern for the southside - whose residents are predominantly black. They said that they are being drowned out by their colleagues. Usher also raised the issue that his constituents in Port Loyola weren't being given enough consideration in the house projects. We asked the PM about that today - but for context, here are snippets of their public statements in the past three weeks.
Hon. Gilroy Usher, Minister of State, Public Utilities, Energy and Logistics
"I personally believe every effort should have been made to enable ASR to continue shipping their sugar from the Port of Belize, instead of taking it down to Big Creek. But that's my position, just as that with Mr. Hyde position as I heard him. In government, you have people of different interest, different persuasions. Not everybody sees things alike and then it comes down to persuading people and to persuade people you need backative. So, yes, it's unfortunate that ASR has moved the thing down there from Port of Belize to Big Creek. A lot of people in Port Loyola will be affected by it, but again that just underscore the need for us to support each other as a black community. The truth is that in any administration, in any group of people you have people with different interest and again I am saying that you need backative. I believe the people who sat down and decided that guess what we are going to build one bedroom houses for them. Who don't like it, that's their business."
Hon. Cordel Hyde - Deputy Prime Minister/Acting PM
"People are hopeless, and then, you take away 2 million dollars out of a community that absolutely needs it. And the thing about it is that stevedores are - they have a legacy. It's a badge of pride for us, black people on the Southside of Belize City, that independence. That resiliency, that swagger, we respect that. We rate that. They are the salt of the earth. And then, I tried to convey that to my colleagues to say, listen, this is going to hurt us. And the implications of this is -can't imagine."
