And this former entertainer feels that the time for professional politicians is over. Shyne says he doesn't believe in sweet words and empty promises and claims that if the UDP were to take office, that he has concrete ideas to benefit the country:
Hon. Shyne Barrow - Leader of the Opposition
"The country has always been best managed under the UDP and I believe again the PUP promised policies that would alleviate poverty, that would give opportunities to people not to just rely on the government but to be able to help themselves and that is just not happening and this is why I talk about access to financing, this is why I talk about that. So those same tax dollars that are being collected for high gas prices could be put in DFC, could be put into National Bank, let's come up with a creative way, we go to Taiwan, that hospital that they came back boasting about, that was in train under the UDP but due to COVID, it didn't happen. So let's see new deliverables coming to the Belizean people."
Jules Vasquez
"Would you accept that you are a newcomer to statecraft to real politics, to the art of making a coherent vision and plan, you're a newcomer, and you know you haven't been doing this your whole long. Are you able to concede to any weakness?"
Hon. Shyne Barrow
"I don't want to be a professional at selling dreams, the things that I'm talking about are very practical. We don't need career politicians anymore. You talk about a purge, the country wants a purge of all those professional politicians."
Jules Vasquez
"Drain the swamp."
Hon. Shyne Barrow
"Drain the swamp. People want politicians that are pragmatic and that have solutions to the problems that are ailing them. They don't want somebody with a PhD in public policy that will give you a dissertation that sounds masterful but in real life, there is no impact, there is no change, let's get it down."
And while Shyne has big hopes for Belize, a disgruntled faction of his own party has already prepared attack ads against their new leader. Delroy Cuthkelvin, who was removed from his post on the Central Executive Committee a few days after Shyne's win, today posted this ad on his Facebook page, claiming that Shyne was untruthful when he said he would not purge the UDP of Faber loyalists.
