The Prime Minister presented the budget for the 2023/2024 fiscal year 12 days ago, and the Leader of the Opposition gave his formal response today to start off the budget debate.
It is - or it should be - the most essential exercise in democracy - both sides arguing over how parliament should best use its powers to spend the people's money.
That's how it works in principle - but in reality - it's not quite that exciting - especially when the opposition - which has 5 elected members - only had 3 on the bench today with the often absent Patrick Faber from Collet missing, as well as the perennially absent Sister B, also a no show for this one.
But, the Leader of the Opposition brought the fire and the fuel for a budget an almost two hour budget response where he criticized the government for being out of touch with people's needs:
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"A budget that fails in every way, shape and form. A budget that so grossly fails to deliver on the broken promises of Plan Belize. No solution to a public health crisis contained in this budget, Madam Speaker. No solution to citizen security Madam Speaker, so solution to the food security crisis that we have, but this prime minister, this minister of finance prefers to give almost 200 million; 194 million dollars to be exact to infrastructure that was nowhere in Plan Belize. You do not have a mandate to build roads and highways according to the member from Caribbean Shores to nowhere. That money should have gone to the ministry of police. More money should have gone to the ministry of education. More money should have gone to the ministry of lands. No solutions. It's their time to eat. Shouldn't have been everybody to win, it should have been time fi wi eat."
"No solution to inflation is contained in this 23/24 budget Madam Speaker and the sick irony is that the government presents an inflated budget that does not address inflation at all. No inadequately, not insufficiently - at all. It is as if inflation don't exist, you all carry on."
"All the performance, all the showboating, all the grandstanding for nothing. This is not the entrainment business. This is serious business of making the Belizean people lives better. And the prime minister cannot do that unless he owns up to the facts. Things are not good in this country."
"Madam Speaker, men lie, women lie, politician liad bad, but the numbers tell the truth and the truth is life was better for Belizeans under the 13 years of the United Democratic Party government. In this budget speech by the prime minister. Watermelon 32%, egg 28%, cabbage 70%, tomato 69% - I'll be here all day talking about the foods that's gone up. The prime minister doesn't talk about those statistics, because if he talks about them, then he would have to put forth a solution and outlined it in this budget and we do not see any solution to the highest cost of living ever in this country. Where are all the solutions?"
