We also asked Peyrefitte about the Prime Minister's comments from yesterday.
You'll remember he was asked about the UDP case which is challenging the award of the Government's multi-million dollars Microsoft 360 contract to Speednet is going to the Supreme Court for a hearing on Friday.
The Government's attorney has already conceded that GOB broke the law by awarding the contract without first sending it to the contractor general. As we told you, this is a major concession of wrongdoing that happens to also benefits a company owned by Prime Minister Briceno's family.
According to Peyrefitte, the Prime Minister's explanation is very much lacking. Here's how he explained why he takes that view:
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - UDP Senator
"You know, all. He used to repeatedly say that the buck stops with the minister. When he was in Opposition, he used to repeatedly say that the Minister of Finance is the one who is ultimately responsible for what happens in the ministry. The Minister of National Security is the minister of whatever. So it is the law. It is accepted procedure, policy, and law, but it is the Minister of Finance who is responsible for making sure that the documentation or the contracts reach the Contractor General. It is under his hand that it goes to the Contractor General. Now to come and throw the Financial Secretary, who just wrote a letter to me taking a bullet for his boss So you have Mr. Waight taking a bullet for Johnny by writing me that letter that he won't give me the information for Johnny to turn around, and take the man who just took a bullet for him and throw him under the bus, Reverse it and run it over again. I mean, that is just unconscionable of the Prime Minister. But that is the type of cruel, cold, uncaring person that he is. If he sees a situation where he can blame Somebody else, or stick it to somebody else and get out of it, then that's what he will do. That's what he's clearly doing. You are the minister of Finance, for God's sake. How can you say Or can you blame public servants for not getting a contract that goes to the Contractor General knowing, full well that the contract is related to a company run by people related to you? Come on, man. I mean, come on. There are no words for what that man did yesterday. And indeed, I don't get into cases that are before the courts. I think I don't do it when I'm a lawyer. I don't do it. I didn't do it when I was Attorney General, and I still won't do it when I am one of the parties involved in the suit. So I won't get into the discussion of the case. But, the part that's out that's public knowledge is, indeed, they have acknowledged that they broke the law when they did not send it to the contractor general. And there are certain aspects of that lot of how criminal connotations when you don't do that. But we won't get into that."
That case takes place tomorrow, and we'll tell you about it in our Friday newscast.
The Origin Story of Madda Fish
And one former minister who is a long ways off from all that political "back and forthing" is Melvin Hulse.
As we've been reporting for the past two nights - he's got stage 4 colon cancer and has accepted that it will end his life, and pretty soon. But the man called "Flipping" is showing admirable courage and remarkable equanimity - cracking jokes even as he is in life's departure lounge, getting ready for his final ascent into forever.
But, before all that, we asked him to share some of his famous rustic wit - including the origin of his two favorite swear words: "flipping" and "madda fish" - here's the origin story:
Melvin's Old Tricks
And if you're wondering how a man who's lost 35 pounds can still crack jokes about "flipping" and "madda - fishing", Melvin Hulse told us that he surprises many of his friends with his strong voice - but that's all it is:
Hulse Urges Politicians To Be Transparent With The Media
But, fooling the public was never something Hulse practiced in public life. He was known to be unapologetic and plain spoken - a trait which got him into political trouble more than once.
But, Hulse was practicing transparency even if it was poor politics. And he had stern and unforgiving words for all those politicians who try to dodge the media:
Melvin Turn Stone!
And in Jules's 2 hour conversation with Hulse, there was of course a fair amount of humor. The two have known each other in the house since the 90's when Hulse was a first term area rep and Jules was starting off as a reporter and camera man.
At the time Hulse was in his 40's - but Jules reminded him that he was not the youngest looking man around:
Mia M, Welcomed To Belize?
And as one politician fades in Belize another is going Shining ever brighter in our CARICOM neighbor Barbados.
And last night in a reality that many politicians can only dream of PM Mottey celebrated a second Clean Sweep victory. She's received hundreds of Congratulatory remarks from around the world but she got a particularly warm one from Belize Minister of Foreign Affairs Eamon Courtenay who used the opportunity to make a very special announcement:
Belize acting as Chair of CARICOM from the 1st of January to the 30th of June 2022 will, as part of it's chairmanship host the 33rd intercessional meeting of the conference of Heads of Government of Caricom. That meeting runs from the 28th of February to the first of March
Latest COVID Numbers
Today's new COVID cases are a little lower 814 were reported. 216 of them were from Cayo, 211 from Belize, and 112 from Corozal. This takes the active numbers up to 9,245.
There was also one unvaccinated death, a male from the Belize district. 22 patients are in the hospital, 5 of them unvaxxed, 12 vaxxed, and one not announced. There are 4 ICU admissions.
The death toll is now at 612 and the positivity rate is at 27.1%.
