And we also asked the prime minister about the opening of what looks like a long legal war with the Ashcroft Alliance - much like the one that the Barrow Administration found itself mired in for almost a decade.
This one is over the NEAC Appeals Tribunal, which has been reconstituted by the Prime Minister after the appearance of a conflict of interest which seemed to favor the Ashcroft Alliance. That group has triggered an appeal of the Waterloo Port Project after NEAC rejected the project for the second time.
The latest development is that the alliance has filed for judicial review of the tribunal as re-constituted through a statutory instrument signed by the Prime Minister.
It appears that they're going to fight it every step of the way because the Ashcroft Alliance is convinced that it has not been treated fairly by the Briceno Administration in its handling of the Waterloo investment proposal.
Today the PM conceded that while they're concerned about a costly legal battle, the government must do what it has to in order to protect Belize's environment.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Obviously it concerns me, Belize, we are not a rich country and every dollar that we spend in the courts we could be using to help poor people, for educate, for health and so forth so obviously we're not happy with it but we're a government and we have to defend our country and we have to defend what is being done in Belize and if we have the NEAC that has serious concerns, serious environmental concerns then we have to follow up their recommendations so if they take us for judicial review, then that's fine, we live in a democracy and that is allowed."
