And amidst all the debates, the topic of an alleged UDP scheme was brought up by the Prime Minister which led him to make a passionate declaration in the House. It started during the supplementary appropriation bill statements, when the PM said that they were allocating 2 million dollars for outstanding compensation for land acquired by the past administration. He said that it was part of what he called UDP's corruption and alleged that Leader of the Opposition Patrick Faber's closest advisor Roosevelt Blades, is a beneficiary.
Here's how he put it.
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"A further supplementary appropriation of 2 million dollars will be required for outstanding compensation payable over the remainder of this fiscal year arising from the past government's excessive reckless, if not corrupt behavior. We must pay for land they acquired."
"How much did they pay for the land in Belama Phase 5?"
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Minister of Natural Resources
"6.5 million dollars."
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"And to who they gave all the land to? Some Blades. We are paying 6.5 million dollars. Supposedly we sold it for $60,000. Leader of the Opposition, that's shameful. You are shameful, he is your man. You should tell him to bring back the lands so we can give it to the people."
"We are paying 6.5 million dollars, the tax payers including you and the member from Corozal and Albert and Queen Square and Mesopotamia - all of your people pay 6.5 million dollars to the land owner so within weeks or months they give it to the right-hand man of the leader of the opposition for 50 plus thousand dollars. They supposed to bring back that land so that we can give it to the rightful owners which are the people of Belize. What is your point of order?"
Hon. Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition
"You are completely wrong."
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"What is your point of order? When you get up to debate, then you could clear it up. I am not yielding Mr Speaker, unless if he makes a point of order, I am not yielding. He can speak when his turn comes."
Hon. Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition
"My point of order is that the prime minister has gone off the topic. He is speaking about acquisitions. The supplementary speaks about acquisitions. The portion of land which the prime minister speaks about is not acquisition."
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"It is acquisition. First of all that's not a point of order."
Hon. Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition
"You are talking about acquisition and you are using an example that has nothing to do with acquisition."
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Yes, it does."
But Faber's turn eventually came and he explained that that particular tract of land - which is in the Freetown division - was not acquired, but purchased, and it was done so for the people of Collet, much to the frustration of the Freetown area rep.
Hon. Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition
"And the reason I was saying as it relates to the land acquisition, that it was not land acquisition the case that he brought up, because the land was purchase as far as I understood after the fact. It was not acquisition that you go and take somebody's land and then you have to pay them and that was the grounds upon which I was making my objection, but I will say here categorically Mr Speaker and the prime minister and the minister of Lake Independence and my friend, the member for Freetown, because it's in his constituency, know fully well, because I believe that I have spoken to all of them, but I place on the record here that any lands that is in that portion that the prime minister mentioned just now is not for Patrick Faber, is not for Roosevelt Blades, but is for the people of the Collet Division, the people of the Collet constituency deserve land as well. You are looking at me as you are not cognizant of what I am talking about and you could argue with the process and I place it on the record here, because the record will bear me out when the distribution of those lands take place. Those lands do not belong to any private entity and will be the property of the people and we sub-divide it for the people of the Collet constituency."
And that led to the PM weaving the tale he said is too astounding, even for fiction, in which the UDP's great scheme has left the PUP with a big bill to pay. That was followed by his impassioned declaration:
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"12 days before the election they came up with the scheme knowing that they were going to lose, knowing that they are not going to get the actual titles on their hands, so they hurry send the money for 50 plus thousand dollars. Knowing that once they lose the deputy prime minister, the minister of natural resources in his good conscience cannot issue out these titles. The member from Freetown who has punished for the past 13 years under the UDP could not give a single person, family, voter in Freetown a single piece of land in the past 13 years. They knew that once we get into government, we were going to stop this hustle."
"Now by them paying for the land quickly, some of the land is not even properly surveyed and they hurry pay the money, they know that if we ask back for it, they are not going to give it to us, we will have to acquire it and they will go to court. They already have a lawyer, I think they've change 2 lawyers by now and you know how much money they are asking in compensation? I can tell you because they sent somebody to talk to me, I am not making this up. They are asking for 5 million dollars in compensation for something that the leader of the opposition should be shamed about. 5 million dollars and then he dears to bring in pastors, that the pastors are praying so that they get a piece of land. They knew that they were going to lose elections, they knew that the DPM, the minister of lands would have to them I can't give you the titles, because it was done 12 days before the elections. You did not follow the proper process. They knew that the representative for Freetown was going to say hell no, we have to help the people of Freetown, they deserve the land, so they quickly pay $50,000 so that they will go to court and they will attempt to get 5 million dollars on the back of the Belizean people. Well, I can tell you right now we are going to take back that land and we are going to give it to the people of Freetown that deserves that land and I will put on record right now that a People's United Party will not pay a single dollar in compensation to these people, because it's a scam. That's how they steal the money from the people and we are going to ask for an audit of the lands department for compensation since 2008 to 2020 and we are going to see how they scam the people of this country."
