And while the PM is concerned about young Kassman Gill, he says that the comments made by FECTAB yesterday are the least of his worries. And today he reiterated his position on the stevedore situation, saying, once again, that it's strictly business and that BSI and the cane farmers were in danger of losing too much money. But he also added that he's hoping to meet with the stevedores to figure a new way forward.
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Mr. Almendarez is the last person in my mind, but I think more than that, I was not responding to him, I'll just respond to the very same issue around people trying to divide us as Belizeans, for those that know me, they know I condemn any form of racism and that I try to reach out to everybody for us to see how we can build this country together. We can't build this country by stepping on one another and trying to tear down one another, we need to encourage on another and we need to support one another. That is why with the issue of the stevedores, it is not a matter of race, it is a matter of economics, it has become way too expensive. The last ship they were trying to load, they were there for almost two weeks nd it has cost the industry 275 US dollars and they only loaded about 20% of what should have been loaded. If they could not finish loading that sugar, the ship would have left, BSI would have lsot a client and BSI could ave penalized by their clients for not delivering the sugar on time so they were forced to go down south. Now they were already looking at down south because they have better facilities, the ship docks right at the dock and so from there you could quickly load it and save millions of dollars for the industry. Now there's always going to be disruptions in the economy. For instance, none of us were around but everything was being moved by mule and cart everywhere, even in the city. When the trucks started to come in to the country, we could not say we would not allow trucks to come in because these people would lose their jobs. It's just that these people need to find something else to do. The stevedores, I'm prepared to meet with them, we have to sit down and see how we could help them to make the necessary changes. I also need to make one more point very clear. Not 100% of the sugar Is going down south. Presently 35% of the sugar is going to be shipped through PBL and they expect by next year, 50% of the sugar is going to be shipped through the PBL."
